Lone Kørnøv

The Danish Centre for Environmental Assessment (DCEA), Aalborg University · Planning

This article develops a process model of eco-industrial park evolution. It draws on two article communities previously identified through a scoping literature review, concerning the development of eco-industrial parks and industrial symbiosis, respectively. The study seeks to find answers to the main research question: How should phases of eco-indu...

The need for simplifying Environmental Assessment (EA), and potential that simplification holds, has not only been raised by policymakers but also by scholars. Despite recent years’ focus and increased push for simplifying EA world-wide – hereunder argued because of the need for accelerating climate investments and green transition – and the fact t...

This article develops guidelines for embedding Systems Thinking principles into tools for sustainability assessment for use in the early stages of sustainable business model (SBM) innovation. Describing the sustainability of business model innovations often takes place without robust assessments and without consideration for the wider system within...

As a collective approach for achieving economic, environmental, and social effects, industrial symbiosis is considered an important tool to realize a circular economy. In both literature and practice, the need for a third party facilitating the development of these resource exchanges between companies has been highlighted. This paper explores the a...

The sustainability challenges tackled in environmental assessments (EA) call for transdisciplinary cooperation linking research and practice in a joint change agency. This article explores the researcher's agency through the development of an EA network that seeks to support collaboration between researchers and practitioners, mutual learning, and...

Marine litter is a transboundary environmental issue that affects all the world’s oceans. Marine litter research is a young discipline but one that has exploded during the last five years. However, the increased knowledge of sources and underlying causes to marine litter, as well as knowledge regarding solutions, lack systematic review and synthesi...

Industrial symbiosis, as a collective approach for using excess resources, is considered a means to realizing a circular economy. Industrial symbiosis can be seen as a way of improving the environmental sustainability of individual companies’ business models, as well as a way of creating collaborative business models that are widely considered an a...

Industrial symbiosis, as a collective approach for using excess resources, is considered a means to realizing a circular economy. Industrial symbiosis can be seen as a way of improving the environmental sustainability of individual companies’ business models, as well as a way of creating collaborative business models that are widely considered an a...

Objectives: Developmental processes influence the determinants of health and, consequently, human health. Yet, assessing human health impacts in impact assessment, with exception of health impact assessment, is still rather vague. Inclusion of Sustainable Development Goal indicators in environmental impact assessment (EIA) is an opportunity to enha...

Purpose This study aims to contribute to the exploration of inter-disciplinary approaches in higher education for sustainability. It is a reflection on a case study linking students in the arts and sustainability science, through which the inter-disciplinary and problem-solving processes for solving a concrete sustainability challenge were explored...

Larger wind turbines are developed to harvest greater amounts of wind energy. This development increases the dilemma between ensuring aviation safety through obstruction lights and reducing citizen annoyance and possible stress effects caused by obstruction lights. In this study, a unique Danish sample is contrasted with a combined German-Swiss sam...

Debates concerning the relation between Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and environmental assessment (EA) have long suggested their integration in some form. The purpose of this paper is to go beyond conceptual debates to explore practices of environmental impact assessment and strategic environmental assessment in terms of how they change in...

Environmental assessments (EAs) are in research and policy expected to be a vehicle for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It has been argued that the scoping of EA, both on project and strategic levels, can be broadened to encompass the 17 goals and thereby strengthen the commitment towards sustainable development. However, stu...

Impact assessment (IA) tools are targeted at decisions and decision-making in theory and in practice. Often described as decision support instruments, most IA are driven by the grand purpose of providing for informed decision-making. In practice this often means IA tends to be more concerned with the information to be provided than with the outcome...

Linking UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Environmental Assessment (EA)—for mutual benefit—is an emerging topic within research and practice. Thus, knowledge and models of how to make the link are rather undiscovered and novel. This article aims to contribute to the understanding of linkages between the SDGs and EA in theory and practice....

Purpose‘Green’ business models1 have received considerable political and financial support, which for the public is a validation of the sustainability of the business models. The sustainability performance seems, however, often questionable, and the purpose of this paper is to investigate the performance of a specific public support programme for g...

Carrying out Transboundary Environmental Assessment (TEA) is one feasible option to evaluate the enormous environmental transboundary impacts of such an international initiative as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This article examines some challenges to carry out TEA for BRI projects. General critical issues for conducting TEA were identified t...

Working with more than 25 companies, we jointly developed 42 green business models for industrial symbiosis, which together will lead to significant decrease in greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, and material use.

Based on research on the effectiveness of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and the critical factors determining it, numerous questions regarding SEA and its effectiveness have come to light. In this paper, we address a range of these questions based on a review of 39 peer-reviewed scientific articles. Questions are examined such as how effe...

This brochure focuses on the development and environmental assessment of sustainable business models for Industrial Symbiosis. An industrial symbiosis business model describes how a business creates value by exchanging surplus resources such as residual products and energy with one or more other companies. The GAIA model is a tool for working with...

Industrial symbiosis, the exchange of excess resources between traditionally separate industries, has received increasing attention in recent years as a means of realizing a circular economy. Research has focused on determining how industrial symbioses come about and develop. Characteristics and dynamics of their emergence as well as their developm...

From simple organizations as gateways for goods and passengers, ports have evolved and transformed into complex organizational systems with multiple functions. Besides providing cargo, logistics, and other kinds of services to its customers, modern ports engage in the development of their hinterlands. Sustainability, evolving from environmental act...

This article offers a critical analysis of the applicability and relevance of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) in the post-conflict period in Colombia as a means to support societal sustainability transition and avoid the depletion of natural resources and the emergence of new conflicts. Colombia, emerging from decades of war between the Co...

Industrial symbiosis is increasingly acknowledged as a strategic tool for the realization of industrial ecology and implementation of circular economy. Recently, industrial symbiosis literature was enriched with views and discussions on dynamics, focusing on the process and dynamic character of industrial symbiosis development. However, little atte...

Discretion is an essential and unavoidable element of most decision-making and is thus often closely related to the judgment exercised by politicians and practitioners alike. It is evident that discretionary power can be executed in different ways, leading to different results. Therefore, it also has a significant influence on the effectiveness of...

Citizens’ self-mobilization has received considerable attention in literature on land use policy and environmental politics. Involved in this mobilization process is a group of highly engaged citizens, which are known by a variety of names in literature and acknowledged for their role in policymaking. To better understand this group of policy actor...

This paper presents a Danish study of mitigation directed at nature protection in environmental impact assessment (EIA) of infrastructure projects. The study is based on a document analysis of EIA reports, a workshop held with EIA professionals, and a study of two cases. The paper takes a point of departure in the mitigation hierarchy as a central...

As an information carrier and communication medium, indicators provide useful decision-making assistance in setting process goals and effectively reaching the goals. The main focus of this article is to investigate indicators' role in influencing planning through Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) especially related to Chinese experiences. Fr...

The relation between wind power development and local communities has received considerable attention in literature and practice. Relatively few studies, however, have provided evidence about how local citizens perceive enduring environmental impacts such as aviation obstruction lights installed on wind turbines or on wind farm light masts. Evidenc...

The new EIA Directive emphasise quality improvements and assurance. Besides requiring data and information to be ‘complete and of sufficiently high quality’, the Directive have procedural requirements for EIA reports to be prepared by ‘competent and qualified experts’, and that competent authorities possess ‘sufficient expertise’. The changes open...

The push for creating a more competitive and liberalized system for traditional public services, including waste management, has been on the European agenda since the late 1980s. In 2008, changes were made in EU waste legislation allowing source-separated industrial/commercial waste that is suitable for incineration to be traded within the European...

The upcoming evaluation of the application and effectiveness of the SEA Directive will necessarily be focusing on implementation issues, since the earlier (and first) evaluation did not bring forward any substantial analysis due to the very recent entry into force of the Directive in member states. Some early indications of issues to be drawn int...

There is a growing interest in the use of theory in order to move the field of impact assessment forward, hereunder to advance our understanding of effectiveness and make impact assessment influence decision-making. However, the extent of use of theory is uncertain. This article examines the use of explicit theory from other fields in impact assess...

During the discussion on the “Environmental Protection Law Amendment (draft)” in 2011, it was decided to drop the proposed clauses related to environmental impact assessments (EIAs) on policy, which means that there remained no provisions for policy EIAs, and China's strategic environmental assessment system stayed limited to the planning level. Ho...

A number of factors are critical to the implementation of measures identified through Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) processes. This paper addresses the challenge of implementation from a street level perspective and studies the role of planners and their use of discretion in the SEA implementation process: in which way might planners hin...

In the last decades, China has introduced a set of indicators to guide the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) practice. The most recent indicator system proposed in 2009 is based on sector-specific guidelines and it found its justification in past negative experiences with more general guidelines (from 2003), which were mostly inspired by, or...

Determination of significance is widely recognised as an important step in environmental assessment (EA) processes. The prescriptive literature and guidance on significance determination is comprehensive within the field of EA, whereas descriptive and explorative studies of how we go about making sense, or construct meaning, of actions to determine...

The choice and use of indicators is not only technical and science-led, but also a value-laden social process, and thus concerns public participation and political judgement. This article approaches the Chinese strategic environmental assessment (SEA) indicator system from a science–policy interface perspective and aims to: (1) contribute to the ge...

After decades of development, the gap between expectations of Environment Impact Assessments (EIA) and their practical performance remains significant. Research has been done to identify the critical factors for an effective implementation of EIA. However, this research, to a large extent, has not been cumulated and analysed comprehensively accordi...

This article takes its point of departure in two approaches to integrating climate change into Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA): Mitigation and adaptation, and in the fact that these, as well as the synergies between them and other policy areas, are needed as part of an integrated assessment and policy response. First, the article makes a r...

These Best Practice Principles are intended to lead to better consideration of climate change in decisions and render them more sustainable. In particular, they are intended to help practitioners integrate climate change considerations into both project-level and strategic-level impact assessments (IA). By doing so, they will also help decision-mak...

The number of environmental impact assessment (EIA) screenings in Denmark has increased dramatically since 2000. This is a consequence of increased pig production as well as the concentration of production on larger farms. In the same period, EIA rules have developed primarily due to an increased focus on the protection of groundwater and Natura 20...

In agreement with the publisher Taylor and Francis, a full text version of the article can be downloaded here: http://vbn.aau.dk/da/publications/a-valuerational-view-of-impact-assessment-of-mega-industry-in-a-greenland-planning-and-policy-context(9d46f123-1c40-4526-9a4f-6c31e2405a1e).html The article reflects on the challenges to Greenland's impa...

Indicators are widely used in SEA to measure, communicate and monitor impacts from a proposed policy, plan or programme, and can improve the effectiveness for the SEA by simplifying the complexity of both assessment and presentation. Indicators can be seen as part of the implementation process helping to understand, communicate and, integrate impor...

In, 2000 the European Parliament and the European Council passed the Water Framework Directive (WFD) to be implemented in all Member States. The consequence of the directive is that river basin management plans (RBMPs) shall be prepared which are legally subject to a strategic environmental assessment (SEA). An important environmental factor for th...

As the field of SEA has matured, the focus has moved from the development of legislation, guidelines and methodologies towards improving effectiveness of the implementation of SEA. Measuring, and of course achieving, effectiveness is a complex and challenging task. This paper suggests that SEA professionals need to consider 'democratic effectivenes...

Growing pressures to increase animal production challenge the agricultural sector to identify technologies and solutions that will make livestock production environmentally sound. One mechanism which may assist the sector in meeting this challenge is Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). On the basis of an evaluation of EIA screenings of Danish li...

A wide range of factors within spatial planning can affect health. There is therefore an important scope for Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of spatial plans to protect and improve human health. Due to the EU Directive 2001/42/EC on SEA, health has been made explicit in Danish legislation and guidance. This paper examines the inclusion of...

Rapporten har til formål at inspirere kommunerne i deres arbejde med forebyggelse af klimaforandringer som en integreret del af kommuneplanlægningen gennem brug af byggegrupper. Håndteringen af byomdannelsen ved brug af de særlige ’byggegrupper’ giver inspiration til at kigge på, hvordan kommunerne inddrager de kommende beboere i byudviklingen og t...

Development of the technical and social skills of students using project orientated and problem-based learning (POPBL) in teams is well documented. In this article the authors are concerned with their experience of integrating individual activities in a team-orientated POPBL setting. The question raised and discussed is: 'can students gain more pro...

In this paper, the authors describe and, on the basis of a recently conducted survey, evaluate a way to increase student learning through the introduction of an individual project activity to the project oriented and problem-based and team-based project work - POPBL. This can be achieved not just by adding an individual activity outside or parallel...

This article focuses on the holistic approach to the environment within environmental impact assessment (EIA). Based on a comprehensive evaluation of the EIA regulations in Denmark, an important observation is that the environmental concept, from being broad in the initial stages, is narrowed considerably in subsequent phases of the EIA process. Al...

Since its introduction into Danish planning in 1989, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been widely discussed. At the centre of the debate the question has been whether EIA has actually offered anything new and there has been a great deal of scepticism about the efficacy of the instrument. Although, in principle EIA offers a holistic and pro...

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is the process by which the effects that proposed projects are likely to have are assessed with respect to a number of environmental criteria. Screening is an activity carried out in advance of an EIA to determine whether, in fact, it is necessary to undertake a full assessment. In that sense screening has beco...

I forbindelse med, at administrationen af VVM-reglerne for husdyrproduktioner overgår til kommunerne fra januar 2007 har Skov- og Naturstyrelsen ønsket at opsamle og beskrive erfaringerne med administrativ praksis dels fra amterne/HUR omkring VVM-reglerne og dels fra kommuner/miljøcentre omkring sammenhængen mellem VVM og miljøgodkendelser for husd...

I perioden 2001-2003 er der foretaget en evaluering af de danske VVM-regler. VVM-direktivet så dagens lys i 1985 og er ændret igen i 1997. VVM har fået en stadig mere fremtrædende plads i det danske plansystem og reguleringen af miljøforhold. Effekten af VVM-reglerne bliver dokumen- teret gennem evalueringen, hvor en række VVM-sager og -screeninger...

An evaluation of Danish EIA rules was conducted in the 2001-2003 period. The EIA Directive came into being in 1985 and was amended in 1997. EIA has assumed an increasingly prominent role in the Danish planning system and in the rules and regulations concerning the environment. The effect of the EIA rules has been documented by means of the evaluati...

A proper integration of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) into policy-making processes is considered critical to the success of SEA. Most of the work in SEA seems to be based on the assumption that the provision of rational information will help improve decision-making, but the literature points to other characteristics of real decision-maki...

The integration of environmental considerations into strategic decision making is recognized as a key to achieving sustainability. In the European Union a draft directive on Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is currently being reviewed by the member states. The nature of the proposed SEA directive is outlined, together with its relationship...