The Five Types of Environmental Assessment
Environmental Impact Assessment
A systemic process designed to identify and evaluate the potential environmental impacts of a proposed project, an environmental impact assessment, (EIA), is in place to minimise, mitigate and eliminate negative impacts on our environment during the construction process. Ensuring projects are sustainable and don’t have a damaging impact or detrimental effect on both our environment and our livelihoods, an EIA will help aid the understanding of the major consequences proposed work could have on any given site.
Strategic Environmental Assessment
In contrast to an EIA, a strategic environmental assessment, (SEA), provides recommendations at a strategic level, allowing for better control over interactions or any cumulative effects. The SEA assesses the extent to which a given policy or plan will:
● Provide adequate response to environmental challenges
● Adversely affect the environment or climate resilience
● Offer opportunities to enhance the state of the environment
● Provide early warning of potential cumulative effects
Ideally, a SEA should be integrated into your project development from the earliest stages. There’s no single method of approach to SEA, often taking different forms according to specific needs.
State of the Environment Report
A state of the environment report, (SOE) offers information on well, just that: the state of the environment itself. Traditional SOE reporting provides important details on the current environment and the trends within the key variables. Less concerned over the human element, except on the specific pressure humanity experts on the environment, an SOE is an incredibly useful tool to analyse trends, assess variables and understand exactly what’s happening with the environment.
Integrated Environmental Assessment
In recent history, SOE reports have somewhat evolved into what we now call Integrated Environmental Assessments (IEA). IEA’s focus heavily on the social, economic and environmental issues in their analyses, attempting to convey the cause and effect impact of both human and natural interaction on the wider environment.
Corporate Environmental Assessment
Often defined as an umbrella term for various ways in which major companies and corporations disclose vital information on their environmental impact, a Corporate Environmental Assessment, (CEA), sometimes referred to as a CER, (Corporate Environmental Report), is designed to demand social responsibility from corporations toward their wider society. Today, many people believe large corporations are the ones at fault for the acceleration of the climate crisis, believing their methods or business practices have to change. A CEA discloses all information regarding a corporations environmental impact to shareholders, government, employees and even customers.
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