IEEP & IES Environmental Policy Forum

On 6 March, the IES together with the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) organised another of their regular lunchtime Environmental Policy Forums, which found brisk interest amongst the 30 participants. Dr. Klaus Jacob of the Environmental Policy Research Centre at Free University Berlin presented the results of the recently completed research project “Evaluating Integrated Impact Assessments” (EVIA). He provided insights into the policy implications resulting from the project’s assessment of the practice of Impact Assessment (IA) in Europe. EVIA evaluated the use of IA procedures by EU institutions and selected member states. It analysed if IA is an effective and efficient approach to committing regulatory units to generic objectives such as the improvement of competitiveness, the integration of environmental concerns or the consideration of social aspects.

Since the 1990s IAs have increasingly been used. All EU-27 countries have either already introduced IA procedures or are in the process of doing so. Yet, the procedures and applications vary significantly between European countries. IAs serve many different functions and are used in different phases of the policy cycle. These functions may be: scoping of options, negotiation and consensus-building, fine-tuning of instruments, consultation with stakeholders, and explanation. The concept of “integrated” IA is not very widely spread. Integrated IAs include not only economic aspects but also social and environmental considerations. Most countries still focus on quantitative and monetary aspects. Qualitative methods are only applied in few European countries. Furthermore, a lack of transparency in the IA procedures and a lack of expertise of the persons in charge were found in many cases.

As opposed to the EU IAs, most national IAs are not published. They are considered as an internal process and not used for legitimising purposes. There is no link between EU and national IAs. Some Member States even exclude European legislation from their IA procedure with the justification that the EU has already conducted one. The EVIA project concluded that there is some room for improvement in terms of integrating environmental, social and sustainable development considerations into IAs, improving the transparency of IA procedures, and cooperation and coordination between the European and the national level. The European Commission should not miss its opportunity to take on leadership on this issue.

Following the presentations of the members of the panel, the floor was opened for questions and comments, and a lively discussion ensued.