Environmental audit

An environmental assessment is understood to be a process for testing the interaction of products or processes with their environment, either legally or by standards.

The term is used in particular in the area of testing the resistance of highly stressed products in the commercial and military environment as well as environmental issues in urban land-use planning .

The objects of investigation in the urban land-use planning are the environmental concerns listed in Section 1, Paragraph 6, No. 7 of the Building Code (BauGB) , the natural balance , landscape maintenance and the supplementary regulations on environmental protection in accordance with Section 1a, Paragraphs 2 and 3 of the BauGB.

Legal bases

When deciding on the admissibility of building projects, according to the legal provisions of the European Union, the direct and indirect effects on the environment must be determined, described and assessed in advance by means of a systematic assessment procedure ( environmental impact assessment ).

In the German Environmental Impact Assessment Act (UVPG), this requirement was decisively structured by introducing an upstream environmental assessment as early as the land-use planning. This largely eliminates the need for an environmental impact assessment for the individual building projects in the planned areas.

For the urban development planning of the municipalities , i.e. development plans or zoning plans , Section 2 Paragraph 4 of the Building Code (BauGB) stipulates that an environmental assessment must be carried out in which the likely significant environmental impacts of this planning are determined and described and assessed in an environmental report. The environmental assessment is also to be used in the previous formal planning procedures for spatial planning, state planning and regional planning.

research object

The subject of the environmental assessment are the environmentally relevant issues listed in Section 1 (6) No. 7 BauGB:

the effects on animals, plants, soil, water, air, climate and the interdependence between them, as well as the landscape and biological diversity
environmental impacts on people and their health and the population as a whole
environmental impact on cultural and other material goods
the avoidance of emissions and the proper handling of waste and sewage
the use of renewable energies and the economical and efficient use of energy
the representations of landscape plans and other plans, in particular water , waste and pollution control law
Maintaining the best possible air quality in areas in which the immission limit values set by statutory ordinances to comply with binding resolutions of the European Communities are not exceeded
the interactions between the individual concerns of environmental protection.

In order to determine the likely significant environmental impacts, the environmental protection items named in § 2 UVPG are examined:

Human protection as an asset : It is particularly important to consider the extent to which there are harmful environmental impacts and which impacts are to be expected from drawing up a development plan. The functions of living and living environment as well as recreational and leisure functions have a decisive influence on people's quality of life. The protected human being is closely interrelated with the other protected assets, especially with those of the natural balance.

Animals and plants as protected assets : Due to the long tradition of nature conservation law, animals and plants are particularly anchored in awareness when dealing with the environment. But it is also about species protection and the interests of areas of Community importance (Natura 2000). This also applies to the conservation objectives and the protection purpose of areas of community importance such as the European bird sanctuaries , as well as nature reserves within the meaning of the Federal Nature Conservation Act and the Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive .

Soil as a protected asset: Since the soil cannot be reproduced, significant damage to the soil is irreversible and there is also a close connection to the other abiotic protected assets, the aspects of prevention and reduction are in the foreground when examining the effects. In particular, this involves limiting land use; Reuse of areas already used for construction purposes; Protection of the soil and its functions from the entry of substances and / or compaction.

Protection of water : The protection of water is essential to human life; life is not possible without water or with contaminated water. In view of the interdependence with other protected assets such as the soil, the ban on the deterioration of groundwater bodies and the preservation of natural waters are in the foreground.

Climate protection : In addition to statements about the emissions of climate-relevant gases such as CO ₂ etc. as a result of enabled projects, questions about increasing the air temperature, reducing the relative humidity, changing the wind field or increasing turbulence must be answered.

Air as a protected good : Due to the context of immission control law, the air as a protected good has additional protection through the polluter pays principle. In the urban land-use planning, the general changes caused by issuers such as households, traffic, trade etc. must be assessed. Action concepts for reducing emissions of pollutants and / or odors are to be developed.

Landscape as a protected asset : The landscape is often described based on animals and plants. Certain types of biotope also shape certain landscape areas. The term landscape is to be seen as a synonym for the term landscape picture and thus describes a sensually perceptible section of landscape. Among other things, the diversity, beauty, character and rarity of the landscape are assessed

Protected culture and other material assets: So far, it has hardly penetrated the awareness that cultural assets are usually irretrievable and that they disappear permanently if they are removed. Architectural monuments, archaeological sites, soil monuments, soils with functions as archives for natural and cultural history represent their own verifiable value.

Interactions : The evaluation of the results for the eight objects of protection results in the interaction as an independent object of protection. Here, too, a description of the current situation and a description of the planning area-specific effects and measures are required.

Which assets to be protected will be exposed to the potentially harmful environmental impacts depends on the specific circumstances of the individual case. The criteria are on the one hand the extent and severity of the planning intervention and on the other hand the existing specific conditions in the planning area, i.e. the values, sensitivities or previous loads.

The environmental assessment also includes the additional regulations on environmental protection listed in Section 1a (2) and (3) BauGB:

Economical and careful use of land; Priority of internal development; Restriction of soil sealing
Restraint in the conversion of agricultural and forestry areas and residential areas
Intervention regulation according to the Federal Nature Conservation Act

Procedure

Scoping

Authorities and other public bodies in accordance with Section 4 (1) BauGB are requested at an early stage to express their views on the required scope and level of detail of the environmental assessment. This collects what can be reasonably required of the specific environmental assessment based on the current state of knowledge and data from the authorities as well as generally recognized test methods. The principle of proportionality must be taken into account. The environmental assessment is not a "search procedure" in which all conceivable effects of planning on environmental goods and their value would have to be examined in detail; Rather, the test procedure has to extend to the environmental assets that are imposed by the current situation. see also scoping

Environmental report

The environmental impact of the environmental test are determined in the environmental report according to § 2a described sentence 2 no. 2 BauGB and evaluated. Appendix 1 to the Building Code contains instructions for the environmental assessment and thus also a useful guide for the structure of the environmental report. The environmental report is part of the justification for a land-use plan and thus accompanies the preparation process up to the resolution of the articles of association.

Consideration

The different goals of a land-use planning must be weighed against each other ( § 1 Abs. 7 BauGB). The result of the environmental assessment presented in the environmental report must be taken into account in the weighing. Under the concerns according to Section 1, Paragraph 6 of the BauGB, environmental concerns do not have a prominent position in the weighing up, despite often extensive processing. Against the background of the sustainability principle and the more declaratory environmental statement, a simple "weighing away" is not possible. In order to overcome significant environmental concerns, a sound justification (description of the other advantages of the planning) is required.

Summary statement

After completion of the installation process, a zoning plan according to Section 6 (5) of the BauGB and a development plan according to Section 10 (4) of the BauGB receive a summary declaration on the manner in which the environmental concerns and the results of public and official participation are taken into account in the construction plan and from which Reasons, if necessary, environmental impacts of the planning were accepted. This environmental declaration is to be added to the files of the master plan procedure and to be available for inspection by everyone.

Environmental monitoring

After completion of the installation process, the last component is the monitoring of the environmental impact in accordance with Section 4c sentence 1 BauGB. As responsible for the land-use planning, the municipalities monitor “the significant environmental impacts that occur due to the implementation of the land-use plans, in particular in order to identify unforeseen effects at an early stage and to be able to take appropriate remedial measures”. The strategic goal of this task is to identify potential effects that can be expected and, in a targeted manner, also unforeseen effects at an early stage and, if necessary, to take remedial measures. However, there are no claims to a change of plan, neither for the authorities involved nor for the public concerned. When it comes to monitoring, the municipalities have a relatively large scope for action; there are no specifications as to how and with what effort monitoring must be carried out.

To support the municipalities in their compulsory monitoring task, the authorities inform the municipalities if they have relevant knowledge, for example from the implementation of a development plan; this duty to provide information is an obligation to provide and does not require further requests for statements.

The results of the monitoring can be taken into account in a subsequent approval procedure for a specific project within the framework of § 15 BauNVO as a restriction to be observed in individual cases.

Exceptions and simplifications

Double exams should be avoided. There is therefore the option, referred to as “stratification”, of restricting oneself to the examination of additional or other (new) environmental impacts in a subsequent master plan procedure ( Section 2, Paragraph 4, Clause 5 of the Building Code). If, for example, a comprehensive environmental assessment is carried out when the zoning plan is drawn up, the environmental assessment in the subsequent development plan procedure should be limited to any environmental impacts that may have occurred or to changed circumstances.

The change and addition of master plan is possible in a "simplified procedure", whereby a new environmental assessment can be dispensed with.

The "accelerated procedure" frees the entire planned and unplanned interior area from the shackles of the environmental assessment under the objective of "interior development before exterior development". The accelerated procedure is possible for three variants of the development planning:

Development plan for the interior area: Development plan for existing areas in the unplanned interior area ( § 13 Paragraph 1 No. 2 BauGB);
Zoning plan for the maintenance and development of central supply areas: simple zoning plan according to § 13 Paragraph 1 No. 3 BauGB with stipulations according to § 9 Paragraph 2a BauGB;
Zoning plan for interior development: Zoning plan for the reuse of fallow land, redensification or other internal development measures in accordance with Section 13a, Paragraph 1 of the Building Code.

No environmental assessment is required when drawing up indoor or outdoor by-laws ( rounding-off statutes ).

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ AECTP 100 - Environmental Guidelines for Defense Materiel

[1] AECTP 100 - Environmental Guidelines for Defense Materiel