ID: 2127
Presenting Author: Paolo Gentili
Session: 674 - Innovation, transparency, and sustainability in Permitting 5.0 through AI
Status: pending
Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain are transforming Environmental Impact Assessment, improving transparency, efficiency, and citizen participation in environmental governance.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) remains central to sustainable development, yet current procedures often suffer from excessive complexity, long timelines, and conflicting priorities between economic growth and environmental protection. A new generation of digital systems, integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain, and geo-tokenization, is transforming the EIA lifecycle toward greater transparency, efficiency, and stakeholder engagement.
Developed through a collaborative design process involving public authorities and project proponents, this framework introduces intelligent automation and interoperability into all stages of environmental assessment. Key functionalities include:
– Automated pre-assessment and reporting, with AI-generated analyses and geospatial summaries;
– Institutional capacity building, supporting faster decision-making and compliance monitoring;
– Proponent support, offering structured guidance for Environmental Impact Studies and real-time tracking;
– System integration, ensuring interoperability with national and regional permitting platforms;
– Public participation, through digital interfaces enabling real-time citizen feedback.
By embedding intelligence, speed, and transparency into EIA processes, this model acts as a catalyst for systemic reform. It mitigates bureaucratic bottlenecks, strengthens institutional performance, and fosters trust among stakeholders, paving the way for a next-generation, human-centric approach to environmental governance.
Paolo Gentili is a Partner at EY with +25 years of experience in policy analysis and investment decision-making support in the energy transition and climate action domains.
Coauthor 1: Giuseppe Perrone
Coauthor 2: Marzia Del Prete
Coauthor 3: Andrea Cozzolino
Coauthor 4: Ginevra Martini