De-risked is an easy word and a hard condition. A project is de-risked when a specific risk has moved from a hope to a filing, a contract, or a spent dollar. Everything else is a plan to de-risk it later, with your capital.

Three documents, or it is still development

Land control that survives the construction period. A permit path with the agency that can say no, and evidence that the binding approvals are in hand or filed. And an offtake or a revenue mechanism you can read. If one of the three is still being discussed, the project is an option on a process.

Progress is not the same as permission

Technical studies, a preferred supplier, and a term sheet are progress. They reduce uncertainty. They do not retire it. Pay a development return for progress. Pay an infrastructure return only when the permission is real.

Ask for the document, not the adjective. If the sponsor can hand it to you, the word de-risked has earned its place.