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.

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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