Environmental Impact Assessment and Self-Regulation

Posted on Mar 29, 2025 in Business Administration and Innovation Management

Evolution of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

Preventive Purpose and Strategic Environmental Framework (EAE)

EIA: A Preventive Approach

EIA is preventive-oriented because:

  1. It assesses the potential environmental impacts of a proposed project before execution. It’s designed to inform decision-making and mitigate or eliminate potential environmental changes.
  2. It’s a legal-administrative procedure that begins with the developer’s summary report, followed by consultations with individuals and institutions, culminating in the Environmental Impact Study (EIS).
  3. It typically refers to specific, defined projects with details on work type and materials. However, it may be inadequate for tourism due to the activity’s scale and detail.

SEA: Preventing Environmental Damage

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) aims to prevent environmental damage before project decisions are made. This applies when authorities plan actions in areas like road infrastructure, rail, agriculture, energy, and tourism.

SEAs address social needs (transport, tourism, urban planning) while protecting biodiversity, fauna, and flora. The SEA (positive or negative) goes beyond individual projects, complementing the EIA.

Conclusion: EIA and EAE

EIA is more detailed and specific, focusing on individual projects. However, the EAE requirement enhances its effectiveness. They are complementary, not exclusive.

Self-Regulation and Management

What is regulated self-regulation? It’s a technique allowing public authorities to rebalance power against society’s growing influence, using the company’s arguments for legitimacy.

It recognizes an economic-environmental public interest area where public authorities and private companies interact. Relevant economic bodies, not the state, regulate this area.

Environmental Auditing vs. Environmental Monitoring

EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) is a management technique involving certifications for organizations improving and evaluating their environmental performance.

The system has two phases:

  1. Private self-regulatory regime:
    • Implementation of an environmental management system audit (to ensure correct application).
  2. External regulation and public purposes:
    • Environmental verifier accreditation and registration validation.

Environmental Audit

An audit ensures the environmental management program is properly implemented according to its objectives.

  • EMS voluntary adoption.
  • Limited supervision.
  • Extensive auditor training requirement (pluridisciplinary, not just technical).
  • Based on trust; no entitlement or administrative approval is required to be an auditor.

Conclusion: Assessing EMS Suitability

To assess the suitability of Environmental Management Systems (EMS) and verify effective implementation, an environmental declaration is made.

Environmental Verification

Verification of the EMS and validation of the environmental statement are performed by an accredited environmental verifier.

  1. Regulations require minimum requirements for verifiers to be accredited.
  2. The verifier can be a natural person.
  3. In Spain, only the Autonomous Communities (CA) can provide this accreditation.
  4. Accredited verifiers can perform tasks in different states (with communication to the state).

This guarantees the technical capacity and impartiality of the auditor.

Differences with Auditor

  • External company.
  • Function: Completely impartial, unique (different from the auditor).
  • Verifies that the environmental statement is true and validated.
  • Equivalent to a notary public, records it for different audiences.