Addressing strategic environmental assessment of Mexico's transition towards renewable energy.

Abstract

The transition to environmentally sustainable societies entails a significant shift in the field of planning process strategy. Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) applied to Policies, Plans and Programmes, i.e., planning tools that precede the Project in the decision-making process and surpass it in terms of spatial and subject scope and level of abstraction involved, is recognised internationally as an instrument which is strategic in nature, and is conceived as a flexible framework of key elements, acting strategically in a decision process to enable a facilitating role, ensuring an added-value to decisionmaking. From this perspective, and taking into consideration the current state of environmental assessment in Mexico as a basis of knowledge and understanding, this work attempts to develop a novel methodological approach for the appraisal of infrastructure project planning on renewable energy, addressing SEA and looking upon the current transition process as a matter of interest, as well as the strategies and public policies proposed by governmental bodies; all towards creating mechanisms that allow the effective execution of policies in the field of green energies, acknowledging energy development as a valuable opportunity for improving transparency in strategic decision-making as well as the quality and level of public participation.