Customers as decision-makers: strategic environmental assessment in the private sector

Despite its diversification and global spread, strategic environmental assessment (SEA) remains limited mainly to activities characterised by well-defined planning processes, typically within the public sector. This article explores the possible application of SEA within certain private-sector contexts where higher-level strategy-making itself is inherently weaker and development is often piecemeal and reactive. The possible adaptation of SEA to the preparation of a strategic document by a particular industrial concern in the UK is examined: this draws attention to the multi-actor nature of development processes within the industry. This leads to the suggestion that SEA in this setting should be thought of as a form of environmental advocacy oriented towards industrial customers, who are understood as sharing a decision-making role in infrastructure development.</p

The place of strategic environmental assessment in the privatised electricity industry

The private sector has given relatively little attention to the emergence of strategic environmental assessment (SEA); even recently privatised utilities, where SEA might be deemed particularly appropriate, and whose activities are likely to fall within the scope of the European Union SEA Directive, have shown less interest than might be expected. However, the global trend towards the privatisation of state-owned enterprises makes the adaptation of SEA towards these industries all the more pressing. This paper addresses the place that SEA might take within the electricity sector, taking the privatised UK electricity industry as an example. Particular challenges are posed by the radical restructuring of the industry, designed to introduce competitive behaviour, making the development of comprehensive SEA processes problematic, and requiring SEA to be placed in the context of corporate environmental policy and objectives.</p

Sustainability appraisal: Jack of all trades, master of none?

Sustainable development is a commonly quoted goal for decision making and supports a large number of other discourses. Sustainability appraisal has a stated goal of supporting decision making for sustainable development. We suggest that the inherent flexibility of sustainability appraisal facilitates outcomes that often do not adhere to the three goals enshrined in most definitions of sustainable development: economic growth, environmental protection and enhancement, and the wellbeing of the human population. Current practice is for sustainable development to be disenfranchised through the interpretation of sustainability, whereby the best alternative is good enough even when unsustainable. Practitioners must carefully and transparently review the frameworks applied during sustainability appraisal to ensure that outcomes will meet the three goals, rather than focusing on a discourse that emphasises one or more goals at the expense of the other(s)

Study to support the REFIT evaluation of Directive 2001/42/EC on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment (SEA Directive) Final report

This evaluation study supports the evaluation of Directive 2001/42/EC on the assessment of the effects of certain public plans and programmes on the environment (SEA Directive) as part of the European Commission's Regulatory Fitness Check and Performance (REFIT) programme. This assessment is based on five evaluation criteria: effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, coherence and EU added value. The study found that the SEA Directive brings considerable benefits to the EU, contributing to wider goals on sustainable development and environmental protection through integration of environmental concerns into the appropriate plans and programmes. The study however raised some issues of concern limiting the Directive’s potential to achieve its objectives in an efficient way: uncertainties about the scope of application and the risk of ensuing legal challenges; the challenges in the application of the Directive to strategic planning addressing global and longer term sustainability challenges; the necessity for a flexible application of the SEA procedure and a more efficient practice, in particular in the drafting of environmental reports. The study also identified a few priority issues that should be considered for further action: the clarification of the scope of application of the Directive, a more strategic approach to scoping and the dissemination of good practices