The event was attended by IBAMA and the study “Contributions to the Debate on Improving the Management of Federal Environmental Licensing” was launched
Improvements in dialogue with intervening bodies and in process management are some of the main points raised to ensure agility and efficiency in licensing at the federal level. The conclusion, present in the document “Contributions to the Debate on Improving the Management of Federal Environmental Licensing”, is part of a survey carried out with companies and licensing bodies, and commissioned by the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS).
One of the publication’s consultants, Claudio Langone, explains that integration spaces for discussions between the agents involved in licensing are important to shortcut paths and build solutions. This statement is echoed by the secretary of support for environmental licensing and expropriations of the Federal Government’s Partnerships and Investment Program (PPI), Rose Hofmann. “Environmental programs need to talk. It’s not just about seeking out each other to demand deadlines. It’s about improving dialogue to build bridges that help solve current obstacles,” she argues.
CEBDS President Marina Grossi emphasizes that the study is a contribution from the business sector to the debate on bill 3.729/04, known as the General Environmental Licensing Law. “As a business platform, we believe in rational debate among the parties involved: companies, governments, civil society and academia. Sustainability is above all about management. In this sense, there are several sub-legal measures that can be adopted to optimize the existing licensing process.”
Considered a key element in the licensing process, IBAMA was represented by the licensing director, Jônatas da Trindade, who reinforced the need for predictability in the processes. “It is necessary to standardize the procedures, thus creating a work routine. We also need to improve and focus on training, prioritizing the impacts of the project and how to mitigate them”, he believes.
One of the common points among the interviewees was the standardization of the terms of reference (TR), which, in the case of projects of the same type, presents more than 80% of similarity. “We should reverse the logic and have a standard TR 80% to 90%. This way, we can focus on what the projects really need to study. It gives us the opportunity to delve deeper into the impacts, which generates more security for the entrepreneurs and the licensing agencies”, argues Daniel Novaes, who represented Neoenergia at the launch of the study.
But how can we combine a structuring process with the overload of daily demands? According to federal government representatives, there are no expectations of new public exams in the short or medium term. In addition to career advancement, the solution would be to develop partnerships and new technologies. “The knowledge of technicians needs to be better utilized. We need new technologies that concentrate processes and group together improvements made along the way, which, in current processes, end up being more of an exclusive knowledge of the technical staff, which does not allow for standardization. New technologies are necessary to speed up work and disseminate data that already exists,” believes Rose Hofmann.
Check out the publication "Contributions to the Debate on Improving the Management of Federal Environmental Licensing" here.
