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Heavy weight! Environmental impact assessment faces significant reforms
Time：
2024-09-25
The Ministry of Ecology and Environment has issued a notice on further deepening the reform of environmental impact assessment, proposing the reform ideas of "one core, two key points, three batches, four tasks, and five guarantees", aiming to optimize the classification and management of environmental impact assessments, strengthen the role of source prevention, and improve the quality and informatization level of environmental assessment documents.
Recently, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued a notice on further deepening the reform of environmental impact assessment (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice").
The preparation ideas of this notice can be summarized as "one core, two key points, three batches, four tasks, and five guarantees".
'One core' refers to the core goal of strengthening the preventive role of environmental impact assessments at the source;
The "two key points" are to focus the reform on optimizing the environmental impact assessment grading and classification management systems;
The "three batches" refer to the collection of approval authority for environmental impact assessments of major projects, optimization of environmental impact assessment management categories for projects with relatively minor environmental impacts, and standardization of environmental impact assessment document preparation for industry projects with simple processes and mature and reliable pollution prevention and control measures.
The "four tasks" include optimizing and adjusting the environmental impact assessment approval authority of ecological environment departments at all levels, conducting pilot projects for optimizing environmental impact assessment classification management in cities, conducting pilot projects for optimizing environmental impact assessment classification management in parks, and conducting pilot projects for standardizing environmental impact assessment document preparation and intelligent auxiliary approval.
The "Five Guarantees" include deepening ecological environment zoning control and providing guidance on spatial compliance in site selection and route selection; Promote dynamic management of pollutant emissions from fixed pollution sources in industrial parks; Coordinate the revision of the two classification management lists for environmental impact assessment and pollutant discharge permits, taking into account consistency and complementarity; Improve the management of pollutant discharge permits in terms of emission volume, regional reduction, feasible technologies, etc; Strengthen support for informatization, digitization, and intelligence.
Notice on Further Deepening the Reform of Environmental Impact Assessment
Ecological Environment Departments (Bureaus) of various provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government, and Ecological Environment Bureau of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps:
1、 The overall idea of reform
Coordinate and optimize the grading and classification management of environmental impact assessments, to achieve better compatibility between environmental impact assessment grading management and grassroots management capabilities. Major projects with ecological and environmental impacts are managed by the ecological and environmental departments at both the provincial and ministerial levels; Realize a better connection between environmental impact assessment classification management and pollutant discharge permit system, significantly reduce the number of environmental impact assessments for pollution impact construction projects, fully leverage the guiding role of ecological environment zoning control and planning environmental impact assessments in project environmental access, continuously enhance environmental impact assessment information support, continuously improve the quality of environmental assessment documents, and significantly enhance the overall effectiveness of the source prevention system.
2、 Optimize the grading approval of environmental impact assessments for construction projects
（1） Strengthen the approval and management of environmental impact assessments for major projects at the provincial level. Except for construction projects that are subject to environmental impact assessment approval by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, environmental impact assessments for projects with significant adverse ecological impacts should generally be approved by provincial-level ecological environment departments, including key industrial projects such as oil refining, ethylene, steel, coking, coal chemical industry, coal-fired power generation, non-ferrous metal smelting, cement clinker, and flat glass, projects with significant ecological impacts such as reservoirs, water diversion projects, conventional hydropower stations, pumped storage power stations, mineral resource development, hazardous waste disposal, and land reclamation projects, and projects that adopt new production processes and technologies, have significant uncertainties in production and discharge conditions, and ecological environment impacts (see Appendix 1 for details). For construction projects outside of this directory, each province may impose strict requirements on specific industries according to local conditions, and shall not arbitrarily delegate project environmental impact assessment approval authority layer by layer. The environmental assessment recommendations for mineral resources development projects with significant ecological environment impact in Xizang, Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia and other provinces (regions) should be approved by the provincial ecological environment department.
（2） Adjust the evaluation of environmental impact assessment approval authority for projects below the provincial level. Provincial ecological and environmental departments should organize the review of project environmental impact assessment approval authority and undertake effect evaluations to ensure that they match the grassroots capabilities. Except for construction projects for which the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and provincial ecological environment departments are responsible for approving environmental impact assessments, other construction projects that prepare environmental impact assessment reports should, in principle, be approved by the ecological environment departments of prefecture level cities (districts). In principle, the ecological and environmental departments at the municipal level can only delegate specific tasks related to the approval of environmental impact assessment reports to the ecological and environmental departments at the county or district level. They are not allowed to delegate specific tasks related to the approval of environmental impact assessment reports to the ecological and environmental departments at the county or district level. Provincial ecological and environmental departments should effectively carry out the evaluation of the effectiveness of environmental impact assessment approval for projects involving centralized administrative approval reform. If it is found that the administrative approval bureau's project environmental impact assessment approval capacity is insufficient and the quality is difficult to control, suggestions for improvement should be made to the provincial people's government.
3、 Carry out pilot projects for optimizing the classification management of environmental impact assessments for construction projects
（1） Select some prefecture level cities to carry out pilot projects for optimizing environmental impact assessment classification management. Please ask the ecological environment departments (bureaus) of seven provinces (cities) including Beijing, Hebei, Jilin, Fujian, Guangdong, Sichuan, and Shaanxi to comprehensively consider economic development and environmental management levels, and select two typical prefecture level cities (districts) to carry out pilot work across the entire region. The main task is to explore the cancellation of some environmental impact assessment (EIA) projects in pilot cities (districts), develop environmental access guidelines for pilot industries, optimize the allocation of total pollutant indicators, strengthen ecological environment zoning control and planning EIA guidance services for construction project site selection, and enhance pollution discharge permits and law enforcement supervision. The pilot work plan is attached in Annex 2.
（2） Select some parks to carry out pilot projects for optimizing environmental impact assessment classification management. Please organize the selection of 2-3 industrial parks for pilot work by the ecological environment departments (bureaus) of six provinces (cities) including Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, Hunan, and Chongqing. The main task is to explore the cancellation of some environmental impact assessment projects in the pilot park, organize the development and improvement of the environmental access list for the pilot park, and explore the establishment of a precise accounting, optimization configuration, and dynamic management mechanism for pollutant reduction and permitted emissions of enterprises entering the park based on environmental quality improvement goals; Explore and improve the management of pollutant discharge permits, implement ecological environment zoning control and relevant planning and environmental impact assessment requirements for construction project site selection, and study and determine the permitted emission amount based on environmental quality improvement goals; Strengthen the early service management of pollutant discharge permits, and ensure the continuation and supplementation of environmental access management for pilot industry projects; Explore strengthening the "one certificate" supervision of pollutant discharge permits, and strictly investigate and punish enterprises that discharge pollutants without certificates or without certificates in accordance with the law. The pilot work plan is attached in Annex 3.
4、 Carry out pilot projects for standardized preparation and intelligent assisted approval of environmental impact assessment documents
Select four pilot cities (districts) including Haidian District in Beijing, Hangzhou City in Zhejiang Province, Xiamen City in Fujian Province, and Chengdu City in Sichuan Province, and screen industries with simple processes, light environmental impacts, and mature and reliable pollution prevention and control measures to carry out pilot projects. The main task is to promote the improvement of the quality of environmental impact assessment documents. One is to standardize the filling of basic information. Through information technology, enterprises can select and fill in relevant information online, assist in generating environmental impact assessment documents, streamline the content of environmental impact assessment document preparation, and improve the efficiency of environmental impact assessment document preparation. The second is to promote the intelligentization of site selection and argumentation. Integrate spatial data such as ecological environment zoning control, ecological environment functional zoning, and element management to enable enterprises to select construction project addresses, check industry categories, fill in basic information such as construction content and scale, assess the feasibility of project site selection, and generate analysis content on the rationality of site selection environment. The third is to improve the standardization level of predictive evaluation. Nesting environmental impact assessment prediction models and parameter systems, calling up automatic monitoring data that meets requirements or monitoring data from surrounding parks and projects, connecting engineering analysis content with environmental quality status, environmental sensitive targets, environmental infrastructure and other data, and completing environmental impact prediction and evaluation online. The fourth is to promote intelligent assistance in environmental impact assessment approval. Sort out the approval results of historical projects in pilot industries and form approval rules. Taking the environmental impact assessment documents as the analysis object, through intelligent retrieval engine technology, key information such as project location, construction content, key processes, and characteristic pollutants in the environmental impact assessment documents are captured. Combined with relevant industry management requirements, comparative analysis is conducted, and according to the prescribed content format, auxiliary environmental impact assessment approval opinions are generated for reference in formulating the final approval opinions. The pilot work plan is attached in Annex 4.
5、 Strengthen organizational support
（1） Strengthen organizational leadership. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment will establish a pilot guarantee mechanism for environmental impact assessment reform, and provide full tracking and guidance for the pilot work. The guarantee work plan is attached in Annex 5. Provincial ecological and environmental departments should strengthen the overall implementation of reform tasks. For the optimization and adjustment of project environmental impact assessment approval authority, they should fully utilize the national unified application and approval system for construction project environmental impact assessments, conduct a comprehensive assessment of approval capabilities at all levels, and scientifically optimize and adjust approval authority. The provincial ecological environment department responsible for the pilot work tasks should carefully organize the pilot cities to formulate pilot work plans, improve work mechanisms, clarify staff, refine pilot tasks, work progress, division of responsibilities, and expected results, to ensure the orderly and steady progress of the pilot.
（2） Strengthen reform guarantees. Provincial ecological environment departments should deepen the integration of ecological environment zoning control, industrial park planning environmental impact assessment, construction project environmental impact assessment, and pollution discharge permit and emission trading system, and strengthen the management of park planning environmental impact assessment and entry project environmental access. Strengthen the construction of technical evaluation capabilities, enhance research and development of key environmental impact assessment technologies, and improve the overall effectiveness of the source prevention system. Ecological and environmental departments at all levels should include relevant departments responsible for project environmental impact assessment approval in the work system of policy guidance, business training, environmental impact assessment document review, information supervision, etc., to ensure that all project environmental impact assessments are accepted and approved in the national construction project environmental impact assessment unified application and approval system, and relevant information is shared on the investment project online approval and supervision platform to achieve unified standards and standardized control.
（3） Strengthen the quality supervision of environmental impact assessment documents. Ecological and environmental departments at all levels should place greater emphasis on improving the quality of environmental impact assessment documents, and strictly control and supervise access. In the approval process, the implementation of environmental impact assessment procedures by the environmental impact assessment unit, the organization and participation of the host in the preparation of the environmental impact assessment report (form) throughout the entire process shall be included in the supervision. Those who falsify basic information such as archives and data or intentionally violate work procedures shall be seriously investigated and punished in accordance with the law. Implement a credit supervision mechanism, reduce the proportion and frequency of review and spot checks for environmental impact assessment units with good credit, and achieve "no disturbance to everything". Environmental impact assessment units included in the "blacklist" are prohibited from operating according to law. For environmental impact assessment units with poor credit, the municipal ecological environment department should conduct on-site inspections every year to ensure that they have basic technical capabilities and other conditions. Strengthen accountability, carry out in-depth special rectification work on the problem of third-party environmental protection service agencies engaging in fraud, timely detect and severely investigate typical cases of fraud in accordance with the "Opinions on Punishing Fraud and Improving the Quality of Environmental Impact Assessment", strictly implement the responsibilities of construction units and environmental impact assessment units, implement a "double punishment system" for relevant units and responsible persons in accordance with the law, implement lifelong accountability in accordance with Article 32 of the Environmental Impact Assessment Law, and hold criminal responsibility for suspected crimes in accordance with the law. Strictly investigate the responsibilities of technical assessment units and approval departments, and widely carry out warning education on typical cases.
（4） Time limit requirements for work. Provincial ecological and environmental departments should complete the optimization and adjustment plan for project environmental impact assessment approval authority by the end of October 2024, and submit it to the provincial people's government for adjustment regulations in accordance with the law; Report the optimization and adjustment results of project environmental impact assessment approval authority approved by the provincial people's government to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment before the end of December; If it involves the need to modify local regulations or local government rules, the authority for environmental impact assessment approval shall be adjusted in accordance with legal procedures. The provincial-level ecological environment department responsible for the pilot task shall prepare and submit the pilot implementation plan to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment within two months after the issuance of this notice, and submit the pilot work summary report by the end of September 2025. The template for the pilot implementation plan and pilot work summary report is attached in Annex 6.
Enclosure:
1. It is recommended that the construction project directory for environmental impact assessment documents be approved by the provincial ecological environment department
2. Optimize the pilot work plan for environmental impact assessment classification management in cities
3. Optimize the pilot work plan for environmental impact assessment classification management of parks
4. Pilot work plan for standardized preparation and intelligent assisted approval of environmental impact assessment documents
5. Work Plan for the Pilot Guarantee Mechanism of Environmental Impact Assessment Reform
6. Template for Pilot Implementation Plan and Pilot Work Summary Report
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