17 th International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology Athens, Greece, 1 to 4 September 2021 CEST2021_00038 A qualitative assessment of Environmental Impact Studies in Greece MIMIKOS L. 1 and VAGIONA D. 1* 1 Department of Spatial Planning and Development, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece *corresponding author: e-mail: dimvag@plandevel.auth.gr Abstract Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a proactive methodical process that investigates and predicts the potential direct, indirect and cumulative impacts of a proposed project/activity on various environmental components, ideally from project/activity initiation to decommissioning. The output of the above process is the Environmental Impact Study (EIS) that should be of high quality and include all the relevant information. The aim of this study is to evaluate the quality of EIS of projects/activities in Greece. The sample consists of 75 complete EIS, conducted after the issue of Law 4014/2011 and includes projects/activities of both categories A1 (extremely significant impacts) and A2 (significant impacts) and of various groups of projects (e.g. hydraulic projects, environmental infrastructure systems, renewable energy sources, industrial and related facilities). The methodology includes a structured evaluation of the above EIS, using the quality evaluation criteria checklist (8 categories and 92 evaluation criteria) of the Environmental Impact Statement Review Package developed by the Impact Assessment Unit (IAU) of Oxford Brookes University. The findings showed that the majority of EISs perform above the average grade of 2.5, when compared against the evaluation criteria. However, the studies omit important environmental and social issues, such as public consultation and alternatives. Keywords: Environmental Impact Assessment, Environmental Impact Studies, evaluation criteria checklist, Oxford Brookes University Environmental Impact Statement Review Package 1. Introduction Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is defined as the systematic process to identify, predict and evaluate the environmental impacts of proposed actions and projects (Glasson et al., 2012). The purpose of the EIA is to identify and evaluate the environmental, as well as the socioeconomic impacts of a project/activity, ideally from project/activity initiation to decommissioning and prior to any decision regarding its implementation. Various legislative schemes, regarding the establishment of EIA systems, have been introduced worldwide over the last 30 years (Canter, 1994). Each EIA system is unique and is a product of a particular set of legal, administrative and political circumstances (Wood, 2003). However, the effectiveness of EIA systems is a matter that should be investigated. Among the most frequently debated issues in connection with EISs is ‘lack of quality’, which can significantly affect the overall effectiveness of the EIA process (Ross et al., 2006). A systematic quality review of EISs involves the sampling and methodical evaluation of several approved project EISs, using a set of review criteria (Anifowose et al., 2016) In Greece, Cashmore et al. (2002) examined the performance of the Greek EIA system and reviewed 72 EISs produced for development proposals in Thessaloniki during 1991 and 1999 using the amended version of the Lee and Colley Environmental Statement Review Package. Androulidakis and Karakassis (2006) appraised the quality of a randomly selected sample of EISs produced in Greece during the decade (1993–2003) using quality- related indicators and evaluated the overall quality of the selected studies. The main purpose of this study is to assess the quality of a representative number of EISs that have been submitted after 2011 in Greece, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the EIA system introduced by Law 4014/2011. The rest of the paper is organized as follows: Section 2 describes the methodology applied, section 3 presents the emerging evidence of the EISs’ assessment, whilst section 4 provides concluding remarks. 2. Methodology In this research study, 75 EIA reports of development projects from various groups are reviewed. The EIA reports are selected randomly from the EISs produced between 2011 and 2020. The established EIS review checklist by Glasson et al. (2005) is used to assess the quality of EISs in Greece. The Oxford Brooked University Review Package (Glasson et al., 2012) is divided into eight sections and within each section there is a number of topics and individual review criterion (92 criteria in total). The package includes the following sections: (i) Description of the Development (4 topics, 21 criteria), (ii) Description of the Environment (2 topics, 9 criteria), (iii) Scoping,