Capacity Building and Education on Strategic Planning and Environmental Assessments in Civil Society Organisations (Biber)

The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) aims to evaluate the environmental and social impacts of plans and programmes at an early stage, consider alternative options, and encourage public engagement. The importance of the SEA tool has grown significantly, due to an increase in the number of plans and strategies subject to SEA, mainly due to recent developments in the topics of energy transition, agriculture and mobility. The Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan, the EU Agricultural Strategy Plan, the Carbon Management Strategy and spatial planning for wind and solar energy will set the course for the coming decades. The increased use of the SEA in strategic decision-making processes, and its evolving role – especially since the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED III) came into force – requires planning practice to adapt. While these developments present new challenges, they also create opportunities, particularly for environmental organisations. Although they are often well integrated into local approval procedures, environmental organisations often lack the capacity and expertise to influence strategic decisions at federal and state levels.

The project Biber focuses on examines the skills that environmental organisations already have when it comes to dealing with SEA, as well as the areas in which they need to improve. Based on this analysis, training courses, information materials and networking opportunities are being developed. The aim is to enable environmental organisations to contribute their expertise more to planning processes more effectively. The project’s objectives are to facilitate informed participation, enhance the transparency and quality of decision making, and leverage synergies between organisations.

Thus, the project strengthens the role of environmental organisations as constructive partners in strategic planning processes by encouraging their active participation. Thus, the project strengthens the role of environmental organisations as constructive partners in strategic planning processes by encouraging their active participation. As such, A key outcome is that these organisations are empowered to raise awareness of environmental issues in strategic decision-making processes, promoting transparent and sustainable decision-making in today’s major areas of societal transformation.