3.2.4. Climate Change in EU Directive on EIA
The issues of CC are highlighted in many paragraphs of the
preamble but also in Annex III, and IV of the EU EIA directive. In addition,
the risk of major accidents and/ or disasters which are relevant to the project
concerned, including those caused by CC, in accordance with scientific
knowledge(Annex III,(1)(f)) is one of the criteria to determine whether the
projects listed in Annex II should be subject to an EIA.
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Annex IV which refers to the information for the EIA report
also requests that the report shall contain a description of the likely
significant effects of the project on the environment resulting from the impact
of the project on climate such as the nature and magnitude of greenhouse gas
emissions and the vulnerability of the project to CC (Annex IV (5) (f)).
3.3. Assessment of the European Union Directive on
Strategic Environmental Assessment
The European Union Directive on Strategic Environmental
Assessment is the Council Directive 2001/42/EC on the assessment of the effects
of certain plans and programmes on the environment adopted on June 27th, 2001
and entered into force on July 21st, 2004. The purpose of the directive
(Article 1) is to provide a systematic framework for considering the
environmental effects of public sector plans and programmes, and to provide a
high level of protection for the environment, as well as to contribute to the
integration of environmental considerations into the preparation and adoption
of plans and programmes, with a view to promoting sustainable development.
In pursuance of Article 12(3) of the Directive7,
the application and effectiveness of the directive has been assessed and a
first report was sent by the Commission to the European Parliament and Council
in 20098. In addition, a study on MS' progress and challenges
experienced in the application of the SEA Directive for the period 2007-2014
was also carried out in 20169 in order to prepare the second
report.
3.3.1. Limits of the EU SEA Directive
The SEA Directive does neither provide detailed specifications
about the procedures for public consultation nor clarifying the methods of
communication with the public even though it states that it is the
responsibility of every Member State to determine the detailed arrangements for
the information and consultation of the authorities and the public (Article
6(5)).
Regarding the integrating of CC issues, the shortcomings that
have been raised from the report on the application and effectiveness of the
SEA Directive are the lack of a well-established methodology to determine
impacts related to CC and the inexistence of specific guidance to CC issues. In
fact, these issues are considered in SEA Directive on a case-by-case basis
concerning some plans and programmes with a potential significant impact on the
climate such as energy and transport (Article 3). Moreover, Annex
I of the directive which refers to the information to be
provided in the SEA environmental report includes `'climate factors» but
does not provide further details about how the vulnerability of the plans and
programmes to CC or theirs impacts on CC can be assessed.
7 Article 12(3): Before 21 July 2006 the Commission shall send
a first report on the application and effectiveness of this Directive to the
European Parliament and to the Council.
8 report from the commission to the council, the European
Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the committee of the
regions on the application and effectiveness of the directive on strategic
environmental assessment (directive 2001/42/EC), Brussels, 14.9.2009 COM(2009)
469 final.
9 Study concerning the preparation of the report on the
application and effectiveness of the SEA Directive (Directive 2001/42/EC) Final
Study. European Union, 2016.
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