Values assessments sustainability implementation

Environmental impact assessment has already shown its value for implementing and strengthening sustainable development, as it combines the precautionary principle of preventing environmental damage and also arranges for public participation. EIA has also become the major tool for an integrated approach to the protection of the environment since it requires a comprehensive assessment of the impacts of an activity on the environment, contrary to the traditional sectoral approach. Moreover, EIA requires the formulation of alternatives to the proposed activity and brings facts and information on environmental impacts to the attention of the decision-makers and the public. 

The problem is the boundary limit of the techno-economical assessment, for example, which costs are effectively considered (see also later discussion regarding life-cycle assessment). This is a moving boundary that should be determined from the best-available-technology (BAT) and the related legislative limits on emissions. However, a more advanced concept is to consider the chemical process as a component of the environment and set the local legislative limits on emissions to values that do not decrease the biodiversity in the specific area where the process is localized. There are many problems in implementing this concept which introduces the idea that emissions from chemical production (and in general from all industrial and human activities) should have a value connected to the capacity of the environment to sustain the life (biodiversity). 

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