Improving Decision-Making for the Energy Transition: Guidance for Using Strategic Environmental Assessment
The climate change threat demands that we urgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Authorities around the world have committed to transition to renewable energy. This is now happening at a rapid rate with new clean energy projects increasing exponentially.
However, many countries do not have protocols and guidelines to help them to make forward-thinking strategic decisions and apply best practice to ensure a sustainable transition. This creates its own crisis and is why the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) has developed an important new resource: Improving Decision-Making for the Energy Transition: Guidance for Using Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA Guidance).
What is the energy transition?
A global effort to shift energy sources from fossil fuels to zero-carbon options (like wind, solar, and hydropower) to reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change.
Many players are looking at the energy transition from too limited a point of view—by assessing risks and benefits only at the individual project level. This is an issue because small-scale, individual initiatives can have unintended and cumulative consequences when multiple projects interact with one another.
Decision makers must make policy decisions strategically to prevent, for example:
Project-level assessment has a narrow focus. It considers the piece of infrastructure being built and its local environment. It does not usually look at alternatives to the project or consider the cumulative impacts of other developments. Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) focuses on a higher level—on policies, plans, and programs. It zooms out and looks at the bigger picture (like a province, region, or whole country), with a strong focus on alternative options and cumulative effects.
SEA provides an early warning system, so governments can identify and address potential issues before they become problems. The scale of the benefits is larger. The opportunity to reduce risk early is also high, helping to avoid later costly or permanent mistakes caused by poorly designed policy.
IAIA is the leading global body of experts on impact assessment.
Protect the environment and society from negative risks and impacts.
Reduce costs and delays.
Build credibility and alignment with international treaties.
Attract investors and donors by incorporating environmental and social safeguards.
How long does SEA take?
SEA typically takes between 6 and 12 months to complete, or longer in certain cases.
How much does it cost?
When to start?
Initiate SEA early in the renewable energy policy planning process. This avoids missed opportunities for addressing environmental and social concerns which can snowball into bigger problems.
IAIA publishes an SEA roadmap on the energy transition for decision makers.
IAIA partnered with international experts in many disciplines and major multi-lateral development organizations to develop the SEA Guidance. This document is a practical guide on how SEA can and must be applied to the global shift to renewables. It is framed in sections as follows.
This section describes the structure of the SEA Guidance and how to use it. It also provides background information on its contributors, origins, and importance.
Part A: The why, what and how of SEA
These chapters provide expert advice and information common to all SEAs in the renewable energy sector. They will be particularly useful for practitioners with limited SEA experience.
Chapter 1: A background to SEA, its benefits, objectives, costs, and how it differs from other forms of impact assessment
Chapter 2: The key stages and tasks in the SEA process and methodologies
Chapter 3: The legal requirements and commitments for applying SEA
Part B: Applying SEA to specific energy sectors
Chapter 4 discusses how to apply SEA to overall energy planning. The other chapters cover specific renewable energy sub-sectors to:
Chapter 4: How to apply SEA in energy planning at national and sub-national levels—from theory to application
Chapter 5: Hydropower
Chapter 6: Wind power
Chapter 7: Solar power
Chapter 8: Bioenergy
Chapter 9: Geothermal power
Chapter 10: Tidal power
Chapter 11: Green hydrogen and ammonia
Chapter 12: Retirement of coal-fired power stations and associated mine closures
Chapter 13: Infrastructure for renewable energy
Chapter 14: Guidance for institutions
Each of the 36 annexes provides additional information and details pertinent to SEA, including Annex 19 which defines the technical terms used throughout the guidance.
Publishing guidance is an important first step. But what follows is even more critical.
We want to hear from you.
For SEA to deliver on its potential in sustaining the energy transition, IAIA wants to hear from authorities, planners, and policymakers about their experiences on implementation. What is working? Do you have feedback on the steps outlined in the guidance? How do we make it stronger and more useful? Please contact us to provide feedback.
We support training and pilot projects.
IAIA wants to find opportunities to share this guidance with interested parties. We would like to offer staging workshops and support pilot projects, particularly in countries and regions with less developed policy infrastructure or experience in undertaking SEAs (e.g., in Asia, Latin America, and Africa). Please contact us to discuss opportunities.
Recommend next-steps projects to us.
IAIA wants to engage in extension opportunities arising from the SEA Guidance. For example, how we can best share data and learnings from SEAs? How can technology be harnessed in facilitating both the process and the leverage gained from conducting SEA initiatives? Please contact us to provide suggestions.
We encourage feedback from everyone involved.
IAIA is committed to work with all stakeholders from the renewable energy sector, international organizations, financial institutions, and civil society to provide broad input and updates—it is crucial that we work together towards a collective aim to ensure the long-term sustainability of the energy transition. We very much look forward to hearing from you—send us your comments!
This publication is an IAIA initiative led by members Barry Dalal-Clayton and Miles Scott-Brown, with financial and technical support from the following organizations and many IAIA member and external peer reviewers.
