Abstract
The guidance documents are intended to be available for regulators and advisors as they carry out their decision-making and for developers and consultants as they prepare consenting and licensing applications for marine renewable energy (MRE). This background document presents an overview of risk retirement and guidance documents. It is not intended to replace any regulatory requirements or prescribe action for a particular risk.
This background document provides an overview of risk retirement and the guidance documents, descriptions of the four regulatory categories relevant for MRE consenting and licensing, and a depiction of the application of risk retirement to consenting processes as a framework. Click the Access File link to download the full Background Document.
Descriptions of Regulatory Categories
The guidance documents are organized to provide ready access to information that can be tailored for use in different consenting processes around the world. When considering environmental effects, there are generally four main categories of environmental regulations.
To connect scientific understanding about environmental interactions and key stressors to the MRE regulatory context, these four main categories are used throughout the guidance documents:
- Species and/or populations at risk;
- Habitat alteration or loss;
- Effects on water quality and oceanographic systems; and
- Effects on social and economic systems (including cultural and historic uses).
Framework
The below framework aims to show how risk retirement and data transferability can be used throughout the consenting process, as well as when OES-Environmental resources can be used to gather relevant data and information.
