Strategic environmental assessment in Swedish municipal planning. Trends and challenges

Balfors, Berit; Wallström, J.; Lundberg, Kristina; Söderqvist, Tore; Hörnberg, Christina; Högström, Johan

doi:10.1016/j.eiar.2018.07.003

Cited by 16 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Bearing in mind that the general approach to impact assessment in the SEA process in methodological terms is predominantly expert, qualitative and subjective, but also flexible in relation to various precise models and tools used in environmental engineering and other areas based on scientific postulates of environmental impact assessment (EIA) [50][51][52][53], the challenge was to select the appropriate techniques and methodology for assessment in the SEA process.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategic Environmental Assessment in the Application of Preventive Protection for Wind Farm Noise—Case Study: Maestrale Ring Wind Farm

2021

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Determining the spatial position of wind turbines is the initial and most important phase in the development of a wind farm project. In this sensitive phase, all potential problems that may arise in the later stages of project development should be prevented by means of spatial and urban planning instruments. This makes it possible to achieve maximum use of the potential of wind in a particular space and, thus, fulfil the technical and economic requirements of the project while respecting the goals of environmental protection in that same area, through preventive protection. Therefore, it is essential, even at the earliest planning and development stage of a wind farm project, for the requirements that are important for optimal spatial solutions to be balanced. In this process, strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is a support to the planning process and an invaluable instrument for finding optimal spatial solutions for the possible key spatial impacts of wind power with regard to noise, shadow flicker, ornithofauna and chiropterofauna. The weakness of SEA can be seen in its predominant application of expert qualitative methods that bring with them subjectivity, since they depend on expert knowledge and skills. This paper presents the aspect of noise impact assessment and its inclusion in the SEA for the Maestrale Ring wind farm in Serbia. The results of the research indicate how it is possible to achieve the principle of objectivity in the process of multicriteria expert evaluation by including the results of a partial impact assessment of the noise from wind farms, using results obtained from software modeling of the spatial dispersion of wind turbine noise in the SoundPlan 8.1 software package in the SEA process. These quantitative results predicting the noise level were used in a semi-quantitative method of multicriteria evaluation in the SEA through the definition of criteria to determine the ranking of impacts, which is elaborated in the paper. The results also show the significant of the contribution of applying a methodological approach based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods in SEA. These methods positively affect the application of the principle of preventive protection through the optimal selection of the number and position of wind turbines on one hand and the objectivity of drawing conclusions based on which strategic decisions are made in the final phase of the SEA process, on the other.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategic Environmental Assessment in the Application of Preventive Protection for Wind Farm Noise—Case Study: Maestrale Ring Wind Farm

2021

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“…As previously mentioned, all Comprehensive Plans are covered by the SEA Directive and should be made subject to an SEA as a rule of thumb [41]. Previous research has shown that the utilisation of SEA for Comprehensive Plans has increased over time since the imposition of SEA requirements in 2004, and it could be regarded as a standard practice today to conduct SEA for Comprehensive Plans [42].…”

Section: Comprehensive Planning and Sea In Swedenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are Local Authorities Building Their Capacity to Plan for Reduced Climate Impact? A Longitudinal Analysis of Swedish Comprehensive Plans

Wretling

Balfors

2021

Land

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Spatial planning conducted by the local authorities has been identified as a key part of shaping carbon-neutral societies. Nevertheless, the question of whether local authorities are building their institutional capacity for integrating climate change mitigation aspects into spatial planning remains under-researched. This paper aims to fill this gap while also analysing the role of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) in facilitating organisational learning. The methods employed were a longitudinal document analysis of Comprehensive Plans belonging to eight municipalities in Stockholm County, complemented by a focus group interview. A significant difference was identified, as the recently adopted Comprehensive Plans included more strategies for climate change mitigation and, to a greater extent, linked these strategies to reduced climate impact or energy efficiency than previously adopted Comprehensive Plans. However, numerous additional strategies could have been given further consideration in each studied Comprehensive Plan. Thus, this calls for more continuous and cyclical comprehensive planning processes to facilitate capacity building, primarily by being a vehicle for mobilising political support. Lastly, the findings indicate that SEA can lead to organisational learning of both single-loop and double-loop nature, where the latter can enable SEA to shape the planning process in a more profound and sustainability-oriented manner.

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“…This overlaps, together with the upwards trend of SEAs performed at the end of the time span, indicate that energy and climate planning practice is in a phase of transition with regard to environmental assessment in which practitioners are still adapting to legislative changes made more than 15 years ago. Over time, theoretical and practical knowledge of environmental assessment may have been diffused within the municipal organisation from the comprehensive planning process in Sweden where the shares of environmental assessment have been much higher (Balfors et al 2018), to sectoral planning practices such as energy planning. However, the gap in identified SEAs in some of the earlier parts of the time frame studied might also, in part, be explained by the fact that only the most current version of each policy document was included.…”

Section: Application Of Screening and Execution Of Strategic Environmmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…MEPs) or all policy documents prepared within Swedish energy and climate planning. This was discussed by Balfors et al (2018) as a suitable measure for Swedish comprehensive planning. Not only would this be a strong measure for increasing the use of SEA, but it could also address the issue that the SEAs performed by the interviewees were reactive rather than proactive in character.…”

Section: Legislative Reflectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similar to many other countries, Sweden is grappling with the process of transitioning to a sustainable energy system while simultaneously fulfilling overarching, national environmental objectives. The practice of Swedish energy and climate planning is changing, for example, through increasing efforts to address climate change mitigation (Wretling et al 2018), as well as practitioners still adapting to the SEA requirements imposed 15 years ago (Balfors et al 2018). These trends are also likely to be recognised by other local governments outside of Sweden, as SEA legislation is present in all EU countries and numerous local governments have voluntarily adopting local energy and climate action plans, e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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SEA screening practice and the inclusion of environmental objectives in Swedish energy and climate planning

Wretling

Hörnberg²,

Gunnarsson-Östling

et al. 2021

Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal

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In municipal energy planning, climate change is a key concern. Additionally, a multitude of environmental impacts and associated objectives also need to be addressed. Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) should increase environmental consideration in planning, including that of national environmental objectives. This paper investigates the SEA screening practice and its effect on the execution of SEA as well as the inclusion of national environmental objectives in Swedish energy and climate planning. The results show that due to low execution and quality of screening, SEA is seldom conducted. However, environmental objectives in which synergies and conflicts can occur in relation to the climate objective were more often included in policy documents when environmental assessment had been conducted, thus indicating that they are incorporated into the basis for planning and decision-making in those processes. If SEA can highlight local co-benefits through this approach, it can facilitate building local support for climate action.

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Strategic environmental assessment in Swedish municipal planning. Trends and challenges

Cited by 16 publications

References 12 publications

Strategic Environmental Assessment in the Application of Preventive Protection for Wind Farm Noise—Case Study: Maestrale Ring Wind Farm

Strategic Environmental Assessment in the Application of Preventive Protection for Wind Farm Noise—Case Study: Maestrale Ring Wind Farm

Are Local Authorities Building Their Capacity to Plan for Reduced Climate Impact? A Longitudinal Analysis of Swedish Comprehensive Plans

SEA screening practice and the inclusion of environmental objectives in Swedish energy and climate planning

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