CVEN3701 Notes – Environmental
Frameworks, Law and Economics
Environmental Frameworks
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
• Sustainable development is development that balances the needs of the
present generation whilst compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs
• Sustainable development is required because Earth is a finite boundary
with finite resources available for use
o Some planetary boundaries have already been exceeded through
human use
• 2015-2018 has been the warmest 4-year period ever recorded,
marking a continuing upward trend for average temperatures
• An everpresent example of climate change in Australia is the mass coral
bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef
• Environmental impacts can be quantified as: I = P*A*T where
P=population, A=affluence, T=technology
o Affluence is a measure of wealth per capita
o Technology is a measure of environmental impact per unit wealth
(‘T’ reduces as technology improves)
o Technology has increased significantly over the last century, but
population and affluence have skyrocketed at an even higher rate
• The neoclassical model of the world describes an overarching economy
that controls society and its environment
• The modern model of the world however has proven that society and the
economy are eventually controlled by their surrounding environment
• The Principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development include:
o Sustainable use of natural resources
o Integrating economic goals with environmental concerns
o Precautionary principle – not having full scientific certainty is
not an excuse for inaction
o Inter-generational equity – sharing resources amongst a single
generation
o Intra-generational equity – sharing resources between generations
o Conservation of biological diversity
o Improving economic mechanisms to aid in environmental
protection – internalising external environmental costs
o Consideration of local issues as part of global systems
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS
• Examples of environmental impacts:
o Pollution/contamination
o Resource depletion
o Energy consumption
o Global warming
o Biodiversity loss
, o Ecotoxicity
o Human toxicity
o Noise pollution
o Visual impact
• Development assessments are used by engineers to use as a decision-
making tool whilst designing or implementing a project
o Development assessments for major developments around NSW
can be publicly accessed
• An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is a legal document required
for a development proceed which outlines actions which may significantly
harm the quality of the environment, used as a decision-making tool
• A set of requirements for all EIS’s is known as Secretary’s
Environmental Assessment Requirements (SEARs), which has two
categories:
o General Standard SEARs
o Key Issue Standard SEARs
• The General Standard SEARs provide requirements for:
o Process of writing an EIS
o Structure and content for an EIS
o Process of consulting and undertaking assessment for the EIS
• The Key Issue Standard SEARs provide requirements for:
o Technical issues that comprehensively cover the majority of
projects
o Some of these issues may or may not be relevant to the project
• An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) involves assessing the
potential impact of a proposed development
o The EIA is a component of the EIS
o The assessment encourages the decision maker to reduce harm if
it is impossible to completely avoid harm
• The three tools typically used to conduct an EIA include:
o Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)
o Carbon Footprint Analysis
o Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
• The Life Cycle Analysis includes examining the entire life environmental
performance of a project or activity
• Life cycle thinking is an approach that involves taking into consideration
the economic, environmental and societal impacts of a development
across its entire lifespan
• A Carbon footprint analysis is simply an LCA in which global warming is
the only impact category
• The Carbon footprint analysis involves measuring total greenhouse gas
emissions directly and indirectly as a consequence of the project
• The CFA has three scopes of emissions:
o Scope 1: Direct emissions resulting from activities under the
control of the organization
o Scope 2: Indirect emissions resulting from heat or power used by
the organization
o Scope 3: Indirect emissions resulting from sources not controlled
by the manufacturing organization
, • It should be noted that the SEARs requirements do not include the impact
of the project on climate change, only the impact of climate change
upon the project
• The goals of a Material Flow Analysis (MFA) involve:
o To investigate a material of concern
o Define a time and space boundary
o Choose goods and processes which correlate with the material
o Establish material balances
o Derive element balance for the region
• The three EIA tools can be summarized as follows:
o LCA focuses on products
o CFA or footprint analysis focuses on direct and indirect societal
impacts of projects
o MFA focuses on impacts of specific materials
Environmental Law
FINDING LEGAL INFORMATION ONLINE
• All Australian law (including environmental law) can be found online at
‘Australasian Legal Information Institute’
o Important jurisdictions for the NSW region is the NSW state
jurisdiction and the Commonwealth jurisdiction
o All acts can be found within the ‘NSW Consolidated Acts’ section
o A consolidated act provides all historical amendments of the act
until present day
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
• Our law making system and its relationship with people depends on
Parliamentary Democracy
• In Australia, this system has been inherited from the UK and has been in
place for centuries
• The law must reflect the wishes of the people, otherwise it will lead to
civil unrest
• The three functions of governance is what creates the democracy
(separation of powers)
o Legislative (Parliament) – lawmaking
o Executive (Government) – implementation
o Judicial (the Courts) - enforcement
• The three tiered system avoids having all power fall into the one entity,
which would result in a dictatorship
• An act of parliament is a legal structure, whereas a regulation is a specific
legal detail
PARLIAMENT
• People elect their members of Parliament, who in turn create legislation
• These laws give power and responsibility to Government officials to
implement or carry out these laws
• The party with the most seats in Parliament becomes the Government
• Judges make the final judgement for sentencings and rulings
Frameworks, Law and Economics
Environmental Frameworks
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
• Sustainable development is development that balances the needs of the
present generation whilst compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs
• Sustainable development is required because Earth is a finite boundary
with finite resources available for use
o Some planetary boundaries have already been exceeded through
human use
• 2015-2018 has been the warmest 4-year period ever recorded,
marking a continuing upward trend for average temperatures
• An everpresent example of climate change in Australia is the mass coral
bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef
• Environmental impacts can be quantified as: I = P*A*T where
P=population, A=affluence, T=technology
o Affluence is a measure of wealth per capita
o Technology is a measure of environmental impact per unit wealth
(‘T’ reduces as technology improves)
o Technology has increased significantly over the last century, but
population and affluence have skyrocketed at an even higher rate
• The neoclassical model of the world describes an overarching economy
that controls society and its environment
• The modern model of the world however has proven that society and the
economy are eventually controlled by their surrounding environment
• The Principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development include:
o Sustainable use of natural resources
o Integrating economic goals with environmental concerns
o Precautionary principle – not having full scientific certainty is
not an excuse for inaction
o Inter-generational equity – sharing resources amongst a single
generation
o Intra-generational equity – sharing resources between generations
o Conservation of biological diversity
o Improving economic mechanisms to aid in environmental
protection – internalising external environmental costs
o Consideration of local issues as part of global systems
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS
• Examples of environmental impacts:
o Pollution/contamination
o Resource depletion
o Energy consumption
o Global warming
o Biodiversity loss
, o Ecotoxicity
o Human toxicity
o Noise pollution
o Visual impact
• Development assessments are used by engineers to use as a decision-
making tool whilst designing or implementing a project
o Development assessments for major developments around NSW
can be publicly accessed
• An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is a legal document required
for a development proceed which outlines actions which may significantly
harm the quality of the environment, used as a decision-making tool
• A set of requirements for all EIS’s is known as Secretary’s
Environmental Assessment Requirements (SEARs), which has two
categories:
o General Standard SEARs
o Key Issue Standard SEARs
• The General Standard SEARs provide requirements for:
o Process of writing an EIS
o Structure and content for an EIS
o Process of consulting and undertaking assessment for the EIS
• The Key Issue Standard SEARs provide requirements for:
o Technical issues that comprehensively cover the majority of
projects
o Some of these issues may or may not be relevant to the project
• An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) involves assessing the
potential impact of a proposed development
o The EIA is a component of the EIS
o The assessment encourages the decision maker to reduce harm if
it is impossible to completely avoid harm
• The three tools typically used to conduct an EIA include:
o Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)
o Carbon Footprint Analysis
o Material Flow Analysis (MFA)
• The Life Cycle Analysis includes examining the entire life environmental
performance of a project or activity
• Life cycle thinking is an approach that involves taking into consideration
the economic, environmental and societal impacts of a development
across its entire lifespan
• A Carbon footprint analysis is simply an LCA in which global warming is
the only impact category
• The Carbon footprint analysis involves measuring total greenhouse gas
emissions directly and indirectly as a consequence of the project
• The CFA has three scopes of emissions:
o Scope 1: Direct emissions resulting from activities under the
control of the organization
o Scope 2: Indirect emissions resulting from heat or power used by
the organization
o Scope 3: Indirect emissions resulting from sources not controlled
by the manufacturing organization
, • It should be noted that the SEARs requirements do not include the impact
of the project on climate change, only the impact of climate change
upon the project
• The goals of a Material Flow Analysis (MFA) involve:
o To investigate a material of concern
o Define a time and space boundary
o Choose goods and processes which correlate with the material
o Establish material balances
o Derive element balance for the region
• The three EIA tools can be summarized as follows:
o LCA focuses on products
o CFA or footprint analysis focuses on direct and indirect societal
impacts of projects
o MFA focuses on impacts of specific materials
Environmental Law
FINDING LEGAL INFORMATION ONLINE
• All Australian law (including environmental law) can be found online at
‘Australasian Legal Information Institute’
o Important jurisdictions for the NSW region is the NSW state
jurisdiction and the Commonwealth jurisdiction
o All acts can be found within the ‘NSW Consolidated Acts’ section
o A consolidated act provides all historical amendments of the act
until present day
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
• Our law making system and its relationship with people depends on
Parliamentary Democracy
• In Australia, this system has been inherited from the UK and has been in
place for centuries
• The law must reflect the wishes of the people, otherwise it will lead to
civil unrest
• The three functions of governance is what creates the democracy
(separation of powers)
o Legislative (Parliament) – lawmaking
o Executive (Government) – implementation
o Judicial (the Courts) - enforcement
• The three tiered system avoids having all power fall into the one entity,
which would result in a dictatorship
• An act of parliament is a legal structure, whereas a regulation is a specific
legal detail
PARLIAMENT
• People elect their members of Parliament, who in turn create legislation
• These laws give power and responsibility to Government officials to
implement or carry out these laws
• The party with the most seats in Parliament becomes the Government
• Judges make the final judgement for sentencings and rulings
