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

Abstract

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.

How Should Impacts Be Assessed?

“…One development path might be enhancing the implementation of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) (Noble & Nwanekezie, 2017), introduced by the European Commission for spatial planning. The use of SEA within the EU is regulated through the directive on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programs on the environment (EU Directive 2001/42/EC), but SEAs are still poorly utilized, as they are not yet mandatory (Wretling et al, 2021). SEAs might be used to ensure that environmental and social issues are considered early, and crosscutting sectors and alternative future pathways would be explored before the planning of a certain project begins.…”