AES CORP

of this Form 10-K under the applicable SBUs. Many of the countries in which the Company does business have laws and regulations relating to the siting, construction, permitting, ownership, operation, modification, repair and decommissioning of, and power sales from electric power generation or distribution assets. In addition, international projects funded by the International Finance Corporation, the private sector lending arm of the World Bank, or many other international lenders are subject to World Bank environmental standards or similar standards, which tend to be more stringent than local country standards. The Company has often used advanced generation technologies in order to minimize environmental impacts, such as combined fluidized bed boilers and advanced gas turbines, and environmental control devices such as flue gas desulphurization for SO 2 emissions and selective catalytic reduction for NO x emissions. Environmental laws and regulations affecting electric power generation and distribution facilities are complex, change frequently, and have become more stringent over time. The Company has incurred and will continue to incur capital costs and other expenditures to comply with these environmental laws and regulations. The Company may be required to make significant capital or other expenditures to comply with these regulations.