Strategic Environmental Assessment as a tool for …...•To support the preparation (i.e. planning)...
Transcript of Strategic Environmental Assessment as a tool for …...•To support the preparation (i.e. planning)...
Strategic Environmental
Assessment as a tool
for greening economy
and the role of sectoral
authorities
Chisinau, 17 June 2015
SEA as a tool
for greening the
economy Main principles of efficient
practice and potential
benefits Michal Musil, UNECE International
Consultant on SEA
Green economy is an economy that results in improved human well-
being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental
risks and ecological scarcities (UNECE).
It should
• Be low carbon and low emissions
• Protect biodiversity and ecosystems
• Be resource and energy efficient
• Creates work and green jobs
• Deliver poverty reduction, well-being, livelihoods, social protection and access to
essential services
• Drive innovation and technology transfer
• Internalize externalities
• Use integrated decision making
Green Economy
Process of reconfiguring businesses and infrastructure to deliver
better returns on natural, human and economic capital investments,
while at the same time reducing greenhouse gas emissions,
extracting and using less natural resources, creating less waste and
reducing social disparities (UNEP´s Green Economy Initiative)
It should
• Be low carbon and low emissions
• Protect biodiversity and ecosystems
• Be resource and energy efficient
• Creates work and green jobs
• Deliver poverty reduction, well-being, livelihoods, social protection and access to
essential services
• Drive innovation and technology transfer
• Internalize externalities
• Use integrated decision making
Greening the economy
SEA is a systematic & anticipatory
process, undertaken to analyse
environmental effects of proposed
plans, programmes & other strategic
actions and to integrate findings into
decision-making
What is SEA?
Typical / Generic SEA Steps 1. Screening
– Determination if SEA will be applied
2. Scoping / Baseline Analysis
– Determination of key issues that should be considered within the SEA process
– Analysis of key issues i.e. past evolution, current situation and likely future evolution if the plan or programme is not implemented
3. Assessment of effects of the plan or
programme on the key issues and development of mitigation measures (including monitoring scheme)
4. Compilation of the SEA Report and its submission for consultations with environmental and health authorities and the public
4.
Co
nsu
ltat
ion
s
5. Taking information generated in SEA into due account in planning and decision-making and explaining decision in publicly accountable manner
• To support the preparation (i.e. planning) and implementation of good
quality planning documents
• To ensure that sustainability considerations inform & are integrated into
planning and decision-making
• To ensure that economic planning is consistent with environmental
obligations and policies (e.g. regarding climate change, air quality,
biodiversity)
• To address strategic issues of concern that cannot be effectively
addressed through project-level decision-making (SEA is not a mega-
EIA!)
Why do we need SEA ?
Case Example 1: SEA
for National Territorial
Development Policy,
Czech Republic
Greening the Transportation:
Addressing landscape fragmentation
Landscape
fragmentation
Landscape Fragmentation by
transport
• SEA succeeded in identification of number of potential (spatial)
planning conflicts
• Formulated principles and possible mitigation measures applicable at
the level of more detailed regional planning
• Contributed to the establishment of the landscape-fragmentation
approach as standard tool of environmental assessment in the Czech
Republic
SEA Benefits
Case Example 2: SEA
for Operational
Programme Enterprise
and Innovation 2007 –
2013, Czech Republic
Greening the Industry
Objective: Increase competitiveness of the Czech economy and bring
the innovation performance of the sector of industry and services closer
to the level of leading industrial European countries
Proponent: Ministry of Industry and Trade
Instrument: Small and medium industrial enterprises and commercial
services´ providers were the main recipients of the support in total value of
3,578 billion Euro.
Operational Programme Enterprise and
Innovation (OPEI): Context
Identified OPEI interventions with potential for significant impacts on the
environment
Potential positive effects:
• modernization of technologies (low waste and emissions)
• higher utilization of renewable energy resources
• energy savings
Potential negative effects:
• Increased pollution (air, water, soil, etc.) resulting from increase of production.
• Waste generation
• Noise
SEA for OPEI: Searching for
opportunities for the greening of the
Programme
• Bonus for projects directly focusing on improvement of the
environment
• Bonus for reduction of material intensity of the production
• Bonus for reduction of the energy consumption
• Bonus for reduction of emission and waste volumes
• Bonus for localization of the project in an old industrial site (instead on
green field)
• Within the OPEI component (sub-Program Eko-energie) focusing on
support of the renewable energy and energy savings following criteria
were adopted:
• Costs of the emissions reduction (CZK/kg CO2/ year)
• Verified total energy savings (electricity/heat)
• Average real use of installed energy generation capacity of a
renewable resource
SEA Impact: environmental criteria in
projects´selection mechanism
The criteria were applied throughout the life-span of the OPEI
(2007-2014) and contributed to the preferential implementation of
more environmental friendly projects in the industrial sector.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade OPEI
implementation monitoring, from the total of 4379 projects
implemented as of 2011, 1417 can be considered environmentally
indifferent, 2170 projects as having certain positive
environmental side-effects, and 792 projects were directly
prepared to deliver significant positive environmental impacts.
SEA Impact: environmental criteria in
projects´selection mechanism (cont´d)
Conclusions
SEA and Green Economy
In addition to environmental, health and sustainability benefits, SEA can:
• Improve competitiveness and potentially reduces costs
• Increase transparency and reduces risk for proponents/investors since
SEA can facilitate better decisions at the project level
• Reduce the timeframes for project finance approval
…And application of SEA is consistent with requirements given by the
International Financial Institutions (ADB, WB, EBRD etc.)
SEA makes good political and business
sense
• Political commitment
• Planning culture and institutional environment
• National SEA system features
• Screening and scoping of key importance
• Timely consultations
• Quality assurance mechanism
Key factors of SEA effectiveness