The Secretariat of Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Innovation of the National Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development approved, through Resolution No. 23/2023 -published in the Official Gazette on November 30, 2023- (the “Resolution”), the “Guide for the preparation of Environmental Impact Studies – 2023 Edition” and the “Guide on public participation in environmental assessment” (the “Guides”), which update the criteria applicable to this type of environmental studies and the instance of public participation that must be fulfilled in them.
As main updates, the Guides establish guidelines for the inclusion of aspects linked to climate change in environmental impact assessment (“EIA”) procedures through their inclusion in environmental impact studies, as well as updating standards for the access to environmental information and public participation in those procedures.
The guidelines set out in the Guides constitute mechanisms aimed at complying with the international commitments assumed by Argentina regarding climate change and those assumed within the framework of the Regional Agreement on Access to Environmental Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean (“Escazú Agreement”).
Guide for the preparation of Environmental Impact Studies – 2023 Edition (the “EIS Guide”)
In line with the provisions of article 19, paragraph g) of Law 27,520 and with the regulatory update measures provided for in the National Plan for Adaptation and Mitigation to Climate Change (approved by Resolution No. 146/2023), the EIS Guide proposes criteria for the incorporation of climate change in the environmental impact assessment of projects, taking into account their duration and size, in order to integrate climate change iteratively throughout the process.
To this end, it is proposed to incorporate criteria related to climate change in the following sections of the Environmental Impact Study:
- Project description: both for the analysis of alternatives and for the description of the executive project.
- Baseline: for the evaluation of environmental factors and interactive tools.
- Evaluation: based on the analysis of climate risks and impacts.
- Environmental management plan (EMP): with emphasis on adaptive environmental management (AEM) and specific adaptation and mitigation actions.
It should be noted that the EIS Guide proposes two main approaches to incorporating climate change in the environmental impact assessment: the adaptation approach, which evaluates how climate change can influence the project; and the mitigation approach, which considers how the project can result in the emission of greenhouse gases. In relation to this last aspect, the inclusion of both direct greenhouse gas emissions – or GHG- (Scope 1) and indirect GHG emissions associated with electricity (Scope 2) is proposed.
On the other hand, it must also be considered that the EIS Guide is a document of general scope, so for the formulation of each study and specific environmental impact, both the content and the methodologies to be used must be adjusted according to the characteristics of the project, its location and the applicable regulatory framework.
Finally, and in line with the obligations derived from the Escazú Agreement, the EIS Guide provides for the inclusion of a dissemination document as a tool intended to facilitate the understanding of environmental information by non-specialized audiences, thus facilitating their participation in the environmental decision making.
Guide on public participation in environmental assessment (the “Public Participation Guide”)
In accordance with current federal legislation and international law ratified by Argentina, environmental assessments -both environmental impact assessments and strategic environmental assessments- require the inclusion of a public participation instance as part of such processes, intended to incorporate, verify and manage a development initiative, considering the commitments, objectives and environmental guidelines in a practical, tangible and territorial way.
Within this framework, the Public Participation Guide includes a set of general good practices and guidelines, as well as specific practices and guidelines for each of those environmental evaluations.
In relation to public participation within the framework of the environmental impact assessment procedure, the Public Participation Guide provides a series of actions that the proponent is responsible for carrying out, among which it is worth highlighting:
- Identify actors, interests, perceptions and priority issues linked to the project.
- Disclose sufficient information about the project, in a timely manner and in language accessible to the non-expert public.
- Design a participation plan based on the complexity of the activity, the context where it takes place and the characteristics of the identified actors.
- Implement mechanisms that promote continuous follow-up and monitoring by the community, including mechanisms for addressing complaints and claims.
Participation Mechanisms
Public consultations and hearings are participation mechanisms that are provided for in the LGA and are mandatory for implementation in all jurisdictions of the country. It is considered good practice to complement them with other participation mechanisms from the early stages of the procedure, since the quality of participation in public consultations and hearings will be directly related to the activities carried out previously.
The Guide on Public Participation proposes four mechanisms that may be adopted by the project proponent depending on the objective to be achieved:
- Dialogue Instances: tending to generate relationships and knowledge and identify the concerns of neighbors.
- Virtual consultations: to inform and identify concerns, facilitating more territorially widespread participation.
- Mediation or assisted negotiation: for reaching agreements on controversial issues.
- Participatory environmental monitoring committees: to allow the neigbours to monitor the environmental aspects of the projects.
Prior, Free and Informed Consultation to Indigenous Peoples
As a corollary, in relation to the Free, Prior and Informed Consultation (“FPIC”) processes of Indigenous Peoples, the Guide on Public Participation establishes a series of principles aiming their correct implementation. In this sense, the FPIC must be prior, free, informed, in good faith, adequate and accessible, through representative authorities and institutions, systematic and transparent, among other transversal issues to consider.
Finally, it is worth remembering that in the case of projects with international financing, this obligation is reinforced by the need to comply with the safeguard or standard corresponding to the Indigenous Peoples of each organization.
By Morena del Río, Martín Prieto and Delfina Buffetti.
