We are delighted to announce the launch of “Improving Decision-Making for the Energy Transition: Guidance for Using Strategic Environmental Assessment.” This has been a multi-year initiative for International Association for Impact Assessment that we hope will serve as an essential and timely reference for policymakers, planners, industry leaders, civil society, and other key stakeholders involved in the energy sector.
This guidance comes at a critical time. Rapid advancements in green technologies, greater efficiencies driving down cost, and a desire for greater energy security are set to deliver further exponential growth in renewable energy projects. But this will cause people to face a fundamental truth: the energy transition, while vital, is not benign; it is instead messy and challenging and can cause many unintended consequences in a world of complex, interrelated systems.
Strategic environmental (and social) assessment (SEA) is a powerful and effective process to address this challenge. It provides a comprehensive framework to see the big picture, to harmonize renewable energy development with the interests of other sectors, address the perspectives of stakeholders, communities, and marginalized groups; and ensure that sustainability considerations are paramount in protecting the future of life on our planet. It improves the planning process by providing a clearer understanding of the consequences for future decisions.
This report is a practical guide for undertaking SEA to support strategic-level policymaking, planning, and program development for the energy transition. It describes best practices for conducting SEA across the energy sector and offers detailed methods and case studies across various energy types that illustrate its application in different contexts.
It will equip leaders to make informed, sustainable, and wise decisions and will help the public and industry to contribute to these decisions. Such decisions will shape the future of our energy systems to best fit the natural and human environments where the projects will be developed, enabling a just and sustainable energy transition.
We would like to thank the co-authors, IAIA members Miles Scott-Brown and Barry Dalal-Clayton, as well as the vital technical and financial support provided by Asian Development Bank (ADB), Impact Assessment Agency of Canada / Agence d'évaluation d'impact du Canada, IFC - International Finance Corporation, Netherlands Commission for Environmental Assessment (NCEA), the Government of the Kingdom of Norway and numerous peer reviewers.
#energytransition #sustainability #climatechange
🌍 IAIA launches a game-changing guidance document on Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to support the renewable energy transition!
📥 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gBbr5p3X
#SustainableEnergy #ImpactAssessment