19.03.2024
Study: The pace of the green transition and the quality of environmental procedures : how to combine streamlining, acceptability and environmental protection?
Open project database
Reducing environmental regulation does not automatically streamline permitting processes, but can have the opposite effect. This is the conclusion of a legal study published by Akordi.
Several legislative reforms based on the government’s programme aim to speed up the passage of the Green Transition projects. If deregulation is carried out without a comprehensive assessment, this could lead to growing environmental and acceptability problems. In addition, permitting decisions may increasingly be overturned in appeal procedures.
The legal study by Professor Ismo Pölönen of the University of Eastern Finland highlights the need for a critical reassessment of environmental laws and basic administrative solutions:
• It is possible to speed up environmental permitting procedures without compromising environmental protection and acceptability. This can be achieved by merging successive procedures and centralising environmental governance functions. At the same time, the conditions for permitting projects should be tightened, especially in sensitive areas.
• Preventive procedures can be streamlined by, at the same time, increasing and developing cooperative monitoring during the project implementation phase. This will not slow down projects, but will strengthen the sustainability and acceptability of the transition.
Akordi published the report as part of a project funded by the TAH Foundation, in which Akordi is building methods for anticipating and resolving conflicts in the green transition in Finland.
More info in Finnish:
- Read the study: Vihreän siirtymän vauhti ja ympäristömenettelyjen laatu : miten sujuvoittaminen, hyväksyttävyys ja ympäristönsuojelu yhdistetään?
- Watch the recording of the launch event 19.3.2024.
