In February 2017, the European Commission published for the first time an Environmental Implementation Review (EIR). The EIR aims to improve implementation in the field of EU environmental policy, by trying to identify the causes of implementation gaps, and to find solutions to them. The first round of assessment reports for the 28 Member States revealed a lack of sound methodologies for assessing the various aspects of environmental governance. Besides, in some cases relevant data and information to underpin the assessments were not readily available, namely access to information, public participation arrangements or administrative capacity to ensure the integration of environmental considerations into planning decisions.

This project aims to overcome this issue. Its main objective is to develop a methodology for assessing the environmental governance performance of public administrations in each of the EU Member States. The assessment covers areas such as transparency, accountability, rule of law, public participation and effective administration. It links to global environment and sustainability governance initiatives, particularly the Sustainable Development Goals. The assessment results are presented in country reports, which feed into the second round of the European Commission's EIR. The 28 country reports are based on desk research and consultation with key stakeholders. To facilitate stakeholder engagement, three stakeholder workshops are organised as part of the project.

In addition to contributing to the EIR, the assessment framework shall be an integral part and important tool of all activities related to environmental governance, including the implementation of the action plan on compliance assurance and the streamlining of reporting and improvement of active dissemination at national level.

The project consortium led by the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) implements the following tasks:

1. Defining environmental governance and the scope of the assessment framework
2. Reviewing and analysing existing assessment frameworks
3. Identifying components of and developing a methodology for the assessment framework
4. Testing (developing pilot country reports) and checking data availability
5. Creating a design for presenting the results of the assessment (including technical solutions)
6. Preparing 28 country reports
7. Undertaking consultation, meetings and preparation of the final report

Ecologic Institute supports IEEP in the development of a methodology to assess the environmental governance performance of the Member States. Based on that methodology, Ecologic Institute prepares the country reports for Austria, Germany, Poland and Spain, and supports IEEP in the review of all country reports and the design for presenting the results of the assessment framework.