Adopt best practice in EIA, including:
- establishment of robust guidelines with evidence-based thresholds for determining the level of assessment for referred projects, guided by robust environmental protection criteria;
- quickly identifying and terminating assessments of activities that would have an unacceptable impact on nature or the climate;
- better assessment of cumulative, indirect and long-term impacts, with greater consideration of the precautionary principle and the promotion of ecosystem outcomes;
- applying stronger standards for proponent environmental review documents to ensure they are founded on evidence, that they adequately account for data gaps, and are subjected to the necessary scrutiny and verification;
- avoidance of duplication in approval processes by placing EIA to the forefront of local government, planning, or other land use assessment processes;
- requiring agencies with specialisation in relevant fields to contribute to EIA processes by providing detailed and publicly transparent input;
- opportunities to inform and meaningfully involve the public throughout the assessment process (see also Recommendation 34 under ‘Strengthen Public Participation and Accountability’);
- requirement for proponents to consider a wider range of alternatives to establish the most environmentally protective project option;
- requirement for the highest standards in independent scientific and expert overview in the preparation, verification, reporting and review of assessment documentation;
- site inspection by the regulatory assessor should be required to support all environmental assessments.