As part of its 2016-2020 Strategic Work Programme, the IMPEL Network set up this project in the environmental damage thematic area, concerning the criteria for the determination of the environmental damage and imminent threat of damage, called CAED - Criteria for the Assessment of the Environmental Damage.
The CAED project takes guidance on key terms and definitions of Environmental Damage as a springboard and focuses on the technical/administrative procedures necessary to make determination of environmental damage.
The CAED project has been included in the ELD Multi-Annual Rolling Work Programme (MARWP) 2021-2024 of the EU Commission (as activity 1.3) as one of the activities for capacity building and it has strong links with the European Commission’s publication on 25 March 2021, of the Commission Notice C(2021) 1860 final titled “Guidelines providing a common understanding of the term “environmental damage” as defined in Article 2 of Directive 2004/35/EC on environmental liability with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage”.
The ultimate goal of the project was to develop a guide and a useful tool proving criteria, methods, decision-making flowcharts, tables and check-lists to help screening, identifying and assessing environmental damage and imminent threat of damage under ELD, as well as conduct trainings on these products.
This Practical Guide proposes a new approach for the assessment of environmental damage based on three phases of ascertainment and on reference parameters relating to “evidence” and to “clue” of environmental damage, taking guidance on the Guidelines SNPA 33/2021 of the National System for Environmental Protection of Italy (see references) as a springboard.
Moreover, with reference to that SNPA Guideline, this Practical Guide proposes a new methodology consisting in using a DPSIR (Driver, Pressure, State, Impact and Response) model adapted to environmental damage assessment and a new tool made of tables of indicators based on the new approach of the ascertainment and the adapted DPSIR methodology. However, this Practical Guide developed a different and broader approach to the one of the SNPA Guideline.
This Practical Guide is therefore connected with a practical tool, namely the Practical Tables, which include check-lists and tables of indicators based on the new approach and methodology and referred to each natural resource protected by ELD.
These Practical Guide and Tables may be used both by ELD experts and non-ELD experts to screen, identify and assess environmental damage and imminent threat of damage under ELD.
In line with activity 1.3 of MARWP 2021-2024, this practical guide and the training activities conducted by the CAED project intend to contribute at improving capacity building of ELD experts and non-ELD experts in the determination of the environmental damage and imminent threat of damage pursuant to Environmental Liability Directive.