Quality of federal level strategic environmental assessment – A case study analysis for transport, transmission grid and maritime spatial planning in Germany

Abstract Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) emerged from Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and was developed based on the procedural steps and understanding thereof, but with the goal to fulfil a more ‘strategic’ function. Federal level plans and programmes constitute the highest planning levels in Germany subject to SEA, as SEA for policies is not compulsory. In this article, we analyse the quality and procedural effectiveness of federal level SEA in Germany with the underlying hypothesis that federal level SEA might be more strategic than SEA at other planning levels, as it represents the highest tier. Therefore, we analysed three federal level SEA case studies in Germany according to a set of criteria and indicators based on international research outcomes, including SEA integration into decision-making, tiering, scoping, selection and assessment of alternatives, cumulative effects assessment, public participation, and monitoring. Results demonstrate that the procedural effectiveness of SEA practice at the federal level is limited in Germany, and the making of SEAs proved not to be as ‘strategic’ as its important role prior to subsequent planning processes and outcomes would suggest. Reasons include an alternatives assessment restricted to macro-siting instead of assessing scenarios of demand or system alternatives, tiering limited to general advice without specific guidance for subsequent planning levels, cumulative effects assessment limited to intra-plan effects, a lack of monitoring, and public participation limited to consultation on the environmental report. These findings support results from a variety of international studies. Reasons for limitations have been identified in current SEA regulations, prior policy-making, institutional settings, the institutions' willingness to learn and limited quality management by the German Federal Environmental Agency. Thus, our recommendations aim to improve quality management and learning by initiating a federal level SEA forum to discuss federal level planning and SEA practice and related issues, expanding the federal EIA portal to SEAs, quality management by the German Federal Environmental Agency in every federal level SEA scoping process and for every federal level environmental report, and further research and development to improve SEA practice. However, the general question for SEA research might be whether SEA contributes to long-term institutional learning processes beyond individual SEA processes, and how those learning processes can be supported, for instance by quality management and capacity building.

[1]  Camilla Adelle,et al.  Policy assessment: the state of the art , 2012 .

[2]  Marie Hanusch,et al.  Strategic environmental assessment: the state of the art , 2012 .

[3]  Thomas Fischer,et al.  Reviewing the quality of strategic environmental assessment reports for English spatial plan core strategies , 2010 .

[4]  Riki Therivel,et al.  Cumulative effects assessment: Does scale matter? , 2007 .

[5]  S. Marsden Importance of context in measuring the effectiveness of strategic environmental assessment , 1998 .

[6]  A. John Sinclair,et al.  Public participation in and learning through SEA in Kenya , 2014 .

[7]  Lisa Friederike Odparlik Are Agencies Turning a Blind Eye to Public Access to Environmental Assessment Information , 2015 .

[8]  Byron K. Williams,et al.  Adaptive Management: From More Talk to Real Action , 2013, Environmental Management.

[9]  Sibout Nooteboom,et al.  The success of SEA in the Dutch planning practice: How formal assessments can contribute to collaborative governance , 2010 .

[10]  John Glasson,et al.  Much ado about SEA/SA monitoring: The performance of English Regional Spatial Strategies, and some German comparisons , 2008 .

[11]  Lisa White,et al.  Strategic environmental assessment for sustainability: A review of a decade of academic research , 2013 .

[12]  W. Wende,et al.  Requirements of the SEA Directive and the German Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan , 2004 .

[13]  Bram F. Noble,et al.  Conceptualizing strategic environmental assessment: Principles, approaches and research directions , 2017 .

[14]  Carlo Rega,et al.  Public participation in Strategic Environmental Assessment: A practitioners' perspective , 2015 .

[15]  Anne Steinemann,et al.  Improving alternatives for environmental impact assessment , 2001 .

[16]  Megan Jones,et al.  Understanding the long-term influence of EIA on organisational learning and transformation , 2017 .

[17]  J. Arts,et al.  SEA follow-up Exploring the concept of strategic environmental assessment follow-up , 2005 .

[18]  Henk Voogd,et al.  Planning in tiers? Tiering as a way of linking SEA and EIA , 2012 .

[19]  K. Grunewald,et al.  Indicators for a nationwide monitoring of ecosystem services in Germany exemplified by the mitigation of soil erosion by water , 2017, Ecological Indicators.

[20]  A. John Sinclair,et al.  Conceptualizing learning for sustainability through environmental assessment: critical reflections on 15 years of research , 2008 .

[21]  Thomas Fischer,et al.  An evaluation framework for effective public participation in EIA in Pakistan , 2011 .

[22]  Davide Geneletti,et al.  Reviewing Strategic Environmental Assessment Practice in the Oil and Gas Sector , 2015 .

[23]  C. Radaelli,et al.  Regulatory Impact Assessment , 2010, OECD Best Practice Principles for Regulatory Policy.

[24]  J. Weston EIA THEORIES — ALL CHINESE WHISPERS AND NO CRITICAL THEORY , 2010 .

[25]  Robert V. Bartlett,et al.  The Theory of Environmental Impact Assessment: Implicit models of policy making , 1999 .

[26]  Johann Köppel,et al.  Offshore wind energy development in the exclusive economic zone: Legal and policy supports and impediments in Germany and the US , 2009 .

[27]  Tomás B. Ramos,et al.  Towards effective scoping in strategic environmental assessment , 2015 .

[28]  Gesa Geißler,et al.  STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT — COMPARING THE UNITED STATES AND GERMANY , 2013 .

[29]  Arwin van Buuren,et al.  Evaluating strategic environmental assessment in The Netherlands: content, process and procedure as indissoluble criteria for effectiveness , 2009 .

[30]  Thomas Fischer,et al.  The Theory and Practice of Strategic Environmental Assessment: Towards a More Systematic Approach , 2007 .

[31]  Bram F. Noble,et al.  STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT: WHAT IS IT? & WHAT MAKES IT STRATEGIC? , 2000 .

[32]  M. Gachechiladze-Bozhesku,et al.  Benefits of and barriers to SEA follow-up — Theory and practice , 2012 .

[33]  J. Sinclair,et al.  Best Practices For Promoting Participation And Learning For Sustainability: Lessons From Community-Based Environmental Assessment In Kenya And Tanzania , 2011 .

[34]  Jean-Philippe Waaub,et al.  Public participation in strategic environmental assessment (SEA): Critical review and the Quebec (Canada) approach , 2011 .

[35]  Gesa Geißler,et al.  Many roads may lead to Rome: Selected features of quality control within environmental assessment systems in the US, NL, CA, and UK , 2017 .

[36]  Thomas B. Fischer,et al.  Strategic environmental assessment and transport planning: towards a generic framework for evaluating practice and developing guidance , 2006 .

[37]  M. Partidário,et al.  Theory versus practice in Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) , 2014 .

[38]  Michael Schudson The Rise of the Right to Know: Politics and the Culture of Transparency, 1945-1975 , 2015 .

[39]  Carissa Schively Slotterback,et al.  Stakeholder involvement in NEPA scoping processes: evaluating practices and effects in transportation agencies , 2008 .

[40]  R. Yin Case Study Research: Design and Methods , 1984 .

[41]  Review of practice and prospects for SEA in China , 2011 .

[42]  L. Sánchez,et al.  Conceptualizing impact assessment as a learning process , 2017 .

[43]  Lone Kørnøv,et al.  Cumulative Effects in Strategic Environmental Assessment: The influence of plan boundaries , 2016 .

[44]  Monique Hennink,et al.  Focus Group Discussions , 2013 .

[45]  Anne Merrild Hansen,et al.  The Paradox of Strategic Environmental Assessment , 2014 .

[46]  J. Zeitz,et al.  Organic soils in Germany, their distribution and carbon stocks , 2015 .

[47]  Make it easy on your readers: ideas on environmental impact document focus, organization, and style , 2006 .

[48]  R. Verheem,et al.  Strategic environmental assessment: one concept, multiple forms , 2000 .

[49]  Charles Eccleston,et al.  NEPA and Environmental Planning : Tools, Techniques, and Approaches for Practitioners , 2008 .

[50]  Bram F. Noble,et al.  Strategic Environmental Assessment Best Practice Process Elements And Outcomes In The International Electricity Sector , 2013 .

[51]  Riki Therivel,et al.  Strategic Environmental Assessment in Action , 2004 .

[52]  D. B. Dalal-Clayton,et al.  Strategic Environmental Assessment: A Sourcebook and Reference Guide to International Experience , 2005 .

[53]  Måns Nilsson,et al.  TOWARDS A FRAMEWORK FOR SEA FOLLOW-UP: THEORETICAL ISSUES AND LESSONS FROM POLICY EVALUATION , 2007 .

[54]  Access to information and the role of environmental assessment registries for public participation , 2013 .

[55]  Hens Runhaar,et al.  What makes strategic environmental assessment successful environmental assessment? The role of context in the contribution of SEA to decision-making , 2007 .

[56]  Ulrike Weiland,et al.  Strategic Environmental Assessment in Germany — Practice and open questions , 2010 .

[57]  A. Bond,et al.  A contribution to the conceptualisation of quality in impact assessment , 2018 .

[58]  Bram F. Noble,et al.  Promise and dismay: The state of strategic environmental assessment systems and practices in Canada , 2009 .

[59]  Anna McLauchlan,et al.  The inherent tensions arising from attempting to carry out strategic environmental assessments on all policies, plans and programmes , 2012 .

[60]  Eric J. Borden,et al.  Germany’s Energiewende , 2014 .

[61]  P. Gazzola,et al.  Effectiveness of strategic environmental assessment - the significance of learning , 2009 .