Enplan is a trans-national cooperation project undertaken jointly by Italian and Spanish regions, designed to define a common, shared methodology for the introduction of the Strategic Environmental Evaluation of regional-scale plans and programs.
The goal of this project is to generate guide-lines organised as a function of the different types of territorial programming/planning instruments: strategic, structural, executive.It is also designed to systematise the legislative and operational-methodological experiences regarding the introduction, at European level, of the strategic environmental evaluation, also through an exchange of ideas and discussions on the latest experiences developed by the partners.
Finally, yet another goal is to give the project participants operational guide-lines on how to transfer into the local legislation the provisions of EU Directive 2001/42/CE.

Directive 2001/42/CE, concerning the evaluation of the effects of given plans and programs on the environment, became effective on 21 July 2001. It defines the general principles of the evaluation system and specifies its field of application, while it leaves the member states ample freedom as to the acceptance of the recommendations on the methodology of intervention.

The Regions participating in this project started out by studying and exchanging their experiences on the themes of the integration of environmental concerns within the planning and programming processes and the regional planning and programming instruments that can promote a well-balanced and sustainable development of the territory. This means collecting information on the existing regulations regarding the environmental evaluation of plans and programs and planning practices in Italy and Spain, as well as in the individual regions involved. Each partner also examined a number of experienced completed previously.

The entire stage of study is meant to define a common basis for gaining a closer understanding of aspects such as the field of Application of the Strategic Environmental Evaluation, the modalities of integration of environmental concerns in plans & programs, the strategic objectives in terms of environmental sustainability, significant environmental indicators, models for the quantification of impacts on the environmental components at plan / program level.

In particular, the Emilia-Romagna Region has assumed responsibility for coordinating the formulation of operational guide-lines for the introduction of the Strategic Environmental Evaluation into plans and programs of a predominantly structural nature.