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The paper presents a systematic exploration of the linkages between environment impact assessment (EIA) and sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the Indian context through a critical analysis of the socio‐ecological impacts of development projects and the policy climate for environmental clearances. A conceptual framework portraying the interlinkages of the systemic disruptions in the socio‐ecological realms, policy challenges, and SDGs is developed, which argues for integrating the SDGs into the EIA framework in India. The paper argues that the legal fluidity and dilution in the design and enactment of EIA retrogrades the crucial socio‐political transformation required for achieving sustainability. The systematic literature review of empirical, conceptual, and grey literature, undertaken on Indian EIA, highlights its instrumental role as a political tool for achieving developmental sustainability. The paper concludes by highlighting the urgent need to mainstream ecological decision‐making into all governance processes for achieving the SDGs in a transforming society like India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indicators are commonly used as tools to identify and highlight socio-economic and ecological trends and to assess progress towards sustainability. Different quality criteria can be considered for indicators. This paper focuses on the timeliness of indicators used in the evaluation of sustainable development strategies. The analysis is based on indicators included in four assessment reports of the sustainable development strategy of the European Union and three assessment reports of the national strategy of Finland. Furthermore, a web-based national level indicator portal is analysed. The results show that the timeliness of indicators has generally not improved during the past decade and that indicators used in strategy evaluations have a time lag of approximately two years. It is suggested that more attention should be given to efforts to improve the timeliness of indicators in order to increase the effectiveness of the evaluations. More generally, it is suggested that greater emphasis should be put on the empirical research on actual use of indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development is a cross-cutting issue par excellence that necessitates a very high degree of policy coordination. This is especially true considering that the European Union's 2001 Sustainable Development Strategy demands that all European Union (EU) policies actively support the sustainable development of other countries, particularly those in the developing world. In order to fulfil this ambitious obligation, the EU has pledged to consider the impacts that all new policies have within and outside the EU as part of a new impact assessment (IA) regime. This paper aims to evaluate how well the new IA regime has helped address the ‘external’ dimensions of sustainability through the analysis of potential effects of EU policies on non-EU countries. It finds that the IA procedure does not currently function as an effective instrument for the implementation of the Union's commitment to promoting sustainability in the developing world. Other coordination mechanisms need to be considered, given the horizontal and vertical complexity of this challenge. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyse talk about water and energy use taken from nine interviews with citizens of Perth, Western Australia. Participants' talk offered representations of water as a scarce, shared, natural resource that must not be wasted, whereas talk about energy use focused on the environmental impacts of different technologies for generating electricity, rather than on energy as a consumable resource. Participants accounted for their water-use habits by positioning themselves as caught between a persona! desire to conserve water and an (incompatible) social obligation to maintain the appearance of their gardens in keeping with the aesthetic appeal of the suburbs in which they lived. We identify several discursive strategies by which people construct the environmental impact of their actions as minimal or unavoidable. These constitute a barrier to the promotion of more environmentally sustainable practices. Potential implications for environmental policy development are discussed, as are the wider issues associated with the development of `applied' discourse analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) and strategic environmental assessment (SEA), two instruments for environmental management that aimto prevent negative environmental impacts, are currently being examined for their usefulness in promoting sustainable development. Because of the importance of introducing sustainable development at the local level, this paper deals with impact assessment systems introduced by local authorities and links them to the sustainable development debate. First, the establishment of EIA and SEA systems at the local level is considered. The adaptation of existing impact assessment systems to their new role as sustainability assessment tool leads to the search for so called sustainability assessment systems. These systems aim to examine during the decision-making process whether policies, plans, programmes or other initiatives will lead society in a more sustainable direction. A framework for sustainability assessment studiesis developed and proposals for the further improvement of EIA, SEA and sustainability assessment systems at the local level are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ecosystem approach has been adopted as the framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and is recommended to be used widely in the integrated management of land, water and living resources, to promote conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way, also in corporations. The forest industry is a resource-intensive branch with various impacts on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Our aims in this study were to examine (i) how the ecosystem approach is implemented in the Finnish forest industry; and (ii) to outline the mental models of environmental experts of corporations, and their conceptualization of some key terms of ecosystem thinking. We interviewed 12 experts about their opinions on the main future challenges, the risks, the mistakes of the past, the possibilities and the successes confronting the forest industry. The results were analyzed using the DPSIR (Driving forces-Pressures-State-Impacts-Responses) framework model. Finally, we give several recommendations as to how the ecosystem approach can be integrated into corporate environmental management. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the impact of penalties assessed to publicly traded firms by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Specifically, we look at whether there is an impact on earnings for firms that were fined by the EPA. There are two competing predictions regarding the impact of environmental penalties on earnings. Either there is no negative impact because firms allocate allowances for regulatory breaches or there is a negative impact because investors and stockholders have a preference to invest in efficient firms. This study contributes to the extant literature examining improvements in the business decision making related to corporate environmental management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Protocol to the Espoo Convention is introduced and analyzed. As an outcome of international processes aimed at the institutional adoption of sustainable development policy, the need for strategic environmental assessment has become obvious given the experiences with environmental impact assessment as an effective environmental policy tool for projects. The introduction of SEA and the adoption of a specific international legal instrument are also situated within ongoing international good governance and (new) public management developments which aim at improving decision making. In this context, the application of SEA and the SEA Protocol is analyzed focusing on its features, approaches and opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews the development of planning law concerning environmental impact assessment in Great Britain. It first notes that town planning was first introduced in the Housing Town Planning Act 1909, but planning and conservation were put into practice only in the 1947 Act of Town and Country Planning. Agencies involved and the regulatory framework underlying environmental impact assessment are cited. Procedures on the assessment, along with the underlying concept of sustainable development, are discussed. A detailed technical process involved in the undertaking is also presented.

Governments across Europe recognize that integrating environmental concerns into other areas of policy is a key to achieving sustainable development. The use of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) enables the consideration of the environmental impact of proposals to be an integral part of decision making. It is an essential tool in helping governments nationally, and locally, achieve greater environmentalintegration. This paper describes the benefits SEA can provide and outlines the context for the European Commission's involvement in thisfield. The requirements of a European draft Directive on SEA are summarized and an assessment made of its effectiveness. A number of shortcomings are highlighted, which should be remedied. Finally, the progress of the draft Directive through the European institutions is tracked and conclusions made on the potential contribution of SEA to future environmental policy. Copyright (c) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most environmental organizations do not focus attention on the impact of diet on the environment. However, my findings as spelled out in this article indicate that dietary changes, especially reduction of beef consumption, could have dramatic and heretofore unforeseen environmental implications ranging from local issues of fertilizer and pesticide use to global sustainability. Using illustrations from American and Australian practices, I trace a wide variety of environmental and nutritional impacts of beef consumption and conclude that a burger and a coke is an outmoded lunch for a humanoid on Planet Earth today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]