ABSTRACT

Streamlining IA for low-carbon activities respectively to reach climate mitigation targets has become a new trend. In Austria and Germany, likewise in many other countries authorities and project developers discuss acceleration of impact assessment procedures looking particularly at public participation as one of the factors suspected to lead to prolongation of procedures. Additionally, also inspired by the EU provisions regarding climate change and renewable energies, experts discuss streamlining between regional and project level, thus between SEA and EIA. In this letter the authors look critically at the most recent developments related to the ambition to accelerate particularly the planning and commissioning of wind energy infrastructure and discuss both chances but also negative consequences and limitations. These are related to several factors such as the assessment at the appropriate planning level or the quality of data. The letter provides implications for IA practice and alternative suggestions which might support efficient impact assessment while maintaining or improving its quality particularly having in mind the various conflicting targets related to, i.e., biodiversity, human health and climate change mitigation.

摘要

精简低碳活动的IA以达到气候减缓目标已成为新趋势。在奥地利和德国，许多其他国家的当局和项目开发人员也在讨论加速影响评估程序，特别是将公众参与视为可能导致程序延长的因素之一。此外，同样受到欧盟关于气候变化和可再生能源的规定的启发，专家们讨论了区域和项目层面之间的精简，从而在 SEA 和 EIA 之间进行精简。在这封信中，作者批判性地审视了与加速特别是风能基础设施的规划和调试的雄心相关的最新发展，并讨论了机会以及负面后果和局限性。这些与若干因素有关，例如适当规划级别的评估或数据质量。这封信为 IA 实践和替代建议提供了影响，这些建议可能支持有效的影响评估，同时保持或提高其质量，特别是考虑到与生物多样性、人类健康和气候变化减缓相关的各种相互冲突的目标。