Comparing legislative mechanisms for SEA screening and decision-making: Austrian and Australian experiences

Austrian and Australian approaches to strategic environmental assessment (SEA) are compared with particular emphasis upon the legal basis for the initial phase of agreement/screening and the final stage of SEA decision-making and implementation. In Austrian SEA, screening is compulsory and the outcome leads only to recommendations, meaning that the SEA results have to be considered, but are not binding for the approval decision. In Australia engagement in SEA is largely voluntary but the process results in legally binding conditions of approval that can be applied to relevant actions arising from an assessed policy, plan or programme; the incentive for proponents to participate voluntarily is that subsequent project level activities may be exempt from further assessment processes. Compulsory SEA in Australia also provides a legally certain outcome, a factor of benefit to proponents. Examples of SEAs are provided to demonstrate the operation of the respective stages in the two countries. In Austria compulsory screening results in a lot of energy being spent avoiding triggering a full SEA. Although Australian proponents have been somewhat cautious in volunteering for SEA of their activities, there are signs that this is changing. We argue that the regulatory framework characteristics are a key determinant of the behaviour of proponents and the competent authority in practice and subsequently of SEA potential and outcomes. Consideration of the construct of the regulatory framework for SEA screening and decision-making provides a useful point of reflection for practitioners attempting to understand the effectiveness of SEA processes in a given jurisdiction

Requirements for the Transformation towards Returnable Transport Item-Enabled Circular Economies in the Austrian Parcel Industry

The European Green Deal sets the ambitious targets of establishing the first climate neutral continent by 2050 and reducing emissions by a minimum of 55% by 2030. In order to move the involved stakeholders to action, the European Commission has formulated proposals for regulations. One such proposal defines a legal framework to force industries to reduce the environmental burden caused by packaging waste. A major waste producer is the parcel service industry (CEP; courier, express, and parcel) and the industries it serves. Once put into place by the EU member states, the new laws will force all players in these sectors to increase business innovations in circular economies, which are based on the principles of recycling and reuse. Circular economies can be achieved by the implementation of returnable transport items (RTI) integrated with Industry 4.0 technologies. The ongoing research project ReKEP, which is largely funded by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, investigates potential impacts of RTI-based circular economies in the Austrian parcel service industry. The project’s particular interest is to identify the requirements of the most relevant stakeholder groups in the CEP industry for the successful transformation towards RTI-enabled circular economies. For this purpose, we conducted interviews with leaders and decision-makers of 10 stakeholder organizations, including producers, retailers, CEP contractors and the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber. This paper summarizes the interview results, which indicate that, despite recognizing the high potential of RTIs for reaching ecological sustainability goals, the contemporary awareness of the EU Green Deal and the concomitant responsibility to take action seems too low for successful implementation. The study outcome suggests that research and development in RTI should focus on operational requirements of workers and line managers from CEP industries for successful transformations to circular economies

Spatial Aspects of Environmental Impact of Power Plants

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is one of the key instruments for implementing sustainable development strategies in planning in general, namely for analysing and assessing the spatial development concepts, in this case in the field of energy and planning of power plants. The SEA in energy sector planning has become a tool for considering the benefits and consequences of the proposed changes in space, also taking into account the capacity of space to sustain the implementation of the planned activities. This chapter examines the multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) method for carrying out an SEA for the power plants in Energy Sector Development Strategy of the Republic of Serbia (case study). The MCE method has found its use in the analysis and assessment of the energy sector spatial impacts on the environment and elements of sustainable development and, in this context, also considering the importance of impacts, spatial dispersion of impacts, their probability and frequency of occurrence, along with the elaboration of the obtained results in a specific, simple and unambiguous way. The chapter focuses on the consideration of aspects of environmental impact of all kinds of power plants, without taking into account the details regarding other aspects of energy sector development that are dealt with in the case study

Sustainable consumption: towards action and impact. : International scientific conference November 6th-8th 2011, Hamburg - European Green Capital 2011, Germany: abstract volume

This volume contains the abstracts of all oral and poster presentations of the international scientific conference „Sustainable Consumption – Towards Action and Impact“ held in Hamburg (Germany) on November 6th-8th 2011. This unique conference aims to promote a comprehensive academic discourse on issues concerning sustainable consumption and brings together scholars from a wide range of academic disciplines. In modern societies, private consumption is a multifaceted and ambivalent phenomenon: it is a ubiquitous social practice and an economic driving force, yet at the same time, its consequences are in conflict with important social and environmental sustainability goals. Finding paths towards “sustainable consumption” has therefore become a major political issue. In order to properly understand the challenge of “sustainable consumption”, identify unsustainable patterns of consumption and bring forward the necessary innovations, a collaborative effort of researchers from different disciplines is needed

Carbon Footprint Management In Austrian SMEs: Strategies, Mitigation Measures, Challenges And Case Studies

The term Anthropocene describes the dawn of an epoch in which human activities have become the dominant force destructing the ecosystem and causing climate change. By contributing at least one fifth to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, industry has a significant environmental impact. Reducing these emissions requires coordinated action along the value chains building on transnational agreements and regulations. Based on the European Green Deal, EU-countries and their industrial companies see themselves forced to react to emerging regulations considering their cooperate carbon footprint and mitigation strategies as well as the assessment and improvement of their carbon footprints. In this paper we report findings of case studies in Austrian SMEs that show how such companies can react to these challenges. We illustrate an approach to identify existing reduction potentials by engineering optimization and product life-cycle-design to reduce corporate and product carbon footprints and prepare for future reporting regulations and to achieve market advantages