TY - JOUR
T1 - Value-oriented impact assessment
T2 - The economics of a new approach to impact assessment
AU - Figge, Frank
AU - Hahn, T.
N1 - Funding Information:
Financial support by the Austrian Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology, the EU LIFE Environment programme under grant number LIFE04 ENV/UK/000815 and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research under grant number 07IFS10 is gratefully acknowledged. The authors would like to thank Klaus Hubacek of the School of Earth and Environment and Burkhart Hansberg of the Institute for Futures Studies and Technology Assessment and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable inputs. The usual disclaimers apply.
PY - 2004/11
Y1 - 2004/11
N2 - Environmental Impact Assessment has gained a prominent position as a tool to evaluate the environmental effects of economic activities. However, all approaches proposed so far use a burden-oriented logic. They concentrate on the different environmental impacts in order to ascertain the overall environmental damage caused by economic activity. This paper argues that such a burden-oriented view is (a) hampered by a series of methodological shortcomings which hinders its widespread use in practice; and (b) is analytically incomplete. The paper proposes a value-oriented approach to impact assessment. For this purpose an economic analysis of the optimal use of environmental and social resources is conducted from both a burden-oriented and a value-oriented standpoint. The basic logic of a value-oriented impact assessment is explained, as well as the resulting economic conditions for an optimal use of resources. In addition, it is shown that value- and burden-oriented approaches are complementary to achieve optimality. Finally, the paper discusses the conditions under which the use of burden- or value-oriented impact assessments is appropriate, respectively.
AB - Environmental Impact Assessment has gained a prominent position as a tool to evaluate the environmental effects of economic activities. However, all approaches proposed so far use a burden-oriented logic. They concentrate on the different environmental impacts in order to ascertain the overall environmental damage caused by economic activity. This paper argues that such a burden-oriented view is (a) hampered by a series of methodological shortcomings which hinders its widespread use in practice; and (b) is analytically incomplete. The paper proposes a value-oriented approach to impact assessment. For this purpose an economic analysis of the optimal use of environmental and social resources is conducted from both a burden-oriented and a value-oriented standpoint. The basic logic of a value-oriented impact assessment is explained, as well as the resulting economic conditions for an optimal use of resources. In addition, it is shown that value- and burden-oriented approaches are complementary to achieve optimality. Finally, the paper discusses the conditions under which the use of burden- or value-oriented impact assessments is appropriate, respectively.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=10944223415&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/0964056042000284901
DO - 10.1080/0964056042000284901
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:10944223415
SN - 0964-0568
VL - 47
SP - 921
EP - 941
JO - Journal of Environmental Planning and Management
JF - Journal of Environmental Planning and Management
IS - 6
ER -