The Swedish Confederation of Enterprise believes that environmental impact assessment processes take too long and the government agrees.
Simplified and shortened processes are absolutely necessary for Sweden to increase the pace of climate transformation, says Pourmokhtari.
The government's investigator Camilla Adolfsson submitted her 2000-page thick report to the government today. It contains a number of proposals for a coordinated and uniform environmental impact assessment process.
Among other things, a new environmental impact assessment authority is proposed as a first instance, which will take over the responsibility from 330 municipalities and authorities. The proposal means that the role of the Land and Environment Courts will be limited to reviewing already made decisions.
Shorter time
Swedish law should also be better adapted to EU law. This means, for example, that time limits will be introduced for the process in Sweden, and that one consultation with the affected public will be sufficient instead of the current three.
Two tracks are proposed in the process. A fast track for simpler cases that only need to be reviewed, and a permit track for activities and measures that always require environmental impact assessment.
According to the investigator, the average time from submitting an environmental impact assessment application to making a decision is currently 12-18 months. However, this does not include the initial consultation process. This can be compared to Denmark's 4-7 months.
With the investigator's proposals, it is estimated that it will take an average of 3 months from application to decision for simpler cases and 6-10 months for cases where permits must be granted.
Warns
In response to the question of whether this will lead to lower environmental protection requirements, Adolfsson replies:
The idea has always been that there will be no lower requirements.
However, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation warns, among other things, that one of the proposals will create a shortcut for companies that the government considers socially important to bypass environmental requirements.
"This means that the government will be able to approve environmental conditions for companies that do not meet environmental impact assessment in court," they write in a press release.
The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation is also concerned that environmentally hazardous projects will not be caught if the mandatory permit requirement is removed for approximately 60 percent of the activities that currently require permits and are instead assessed on a case-by-case basis.
The investigator estimates that the proposals can be implemented from January 1, 2028.
Maria Davidsson/TT
Peter Wallberg/TT
Facts: Environmental Impact Assessments Today
TTTT
Today, approximately 6,000 activities require an environmental permit, while 20,000 activities are subject to a notification requirement.
Activities with the greatest environmental impact must apply for a permit from the Land and Environment Courts.
Those with less impact must apply for a permit from the environmental impact assessment delegation at the county administrative board.
Other activities do not require a permit, but must be notified to the municipality.
Source: The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency
