Project categories

Category A

1. Crude-oil refineries (excluding undertakings manufacturing only lubricants from crude oil) and installations for the gasification and liquefaction of 500 tonnes or more of coal or bituminous shale per day.

2. Thermal power stations and other combustion installations with a heat output of 300 megawatts or more, and nuclear power stations and other nuclear reactors including the dismantling or decommissioning of such power stations or reactors (except research installations for the production and conversion of fissionable and fertile materials, whose maximum power does not exceed 1 kilowatt continuous thermal load).

3. Installations designed for the production or enrichment of nuclear fuels, the reprocessing, storage or final disposal of irradiated nuclear fuels, or for the storage, disposal or processing of radioactive waste.

4. Manufacturing of metals like:

a) Integrated works for the initial smelting of cast-iron and steel;

b) Installations for the production of non-ferrous crude metals from ore, concentrates or secondary raw materials by metallurgical, chemical or electrolytic processes.

5. Chemical installations, i.e. those installations for the manufacture on an industrial scale of substances using chemical conversion processes.

6. Infrastructure projects like:

a) Construction of lines for long-distance railway traffic

b) Construction of airports with a basic runway length of 2,100 m or more;

c) Construction of motorways and express roads or new road of four or more lanes, or realignment and/or widening of an existing road of two lanes or less so as to provide four or more lanes, where such new road, or realigned and/or widened section of road would be 10 km or more in a continuous length.

d) Inland waterways and ports for inland-waterway traffic which permit the passage of vessels of over 1,350 tonnes;

e) Trading ports, piers for loading and unloading connected to land and outside ports (excluding ferry piers) which can take vessels of over 1,350 tonnes.

7. Processing and disposal installations for the incineration, chemical treatment or landfill of hazardous waste.

8. Waste disposal installations for the incineration or chemical treatment of non-hazardous waste with a capacity exceeding 100 tonnes per day.

9. Groundwater abstraction or artificial groundwater recharge schemes where the annual volume of water abstracted or recharged is equivalent to or exceeds 10 million cubic metres.

10. Transfer of water like:

a) Works for the transfer of water resources between river basins where this transfer aims at preventing possible shortages of water and where the amount of water transferred exceeds 100 million cubic metres/year;

b) In all other cases, works for the transfer of water resources between river basins where the multi-annual average flow of the basin of abstraction exceeds 2,000 million cubic metres/year and where the amount of water transferred exceeds 5% of this flow. In both cases transfers of piped drinking water are excluded.

11. Wastewater treatment plants with a capacity exceeding 150,000 population equivalent.

12. Extraction of petroleum and natural gas for commercial purposes.

13. Dams and other installations designed for the holding back or permanent storage of water, where a new or additional amount of water held back or stored exceeds 10 million cubic metres.

14. Pipelines with a diameter of more than 800 mm and a length of more than 40 km:

a) for the transport of gas, oil, chemicals, and,

b) for the transport of carbon dioxide (CO2) streams for the purposes of geological storage, including associated booster stations.

15. Installations for the intensive rearing of poultry or pigs with more than:

a) 85,000 places for broilers, 60,000 places for hens;

b) 3,000 places for production pigs (over 30 kg); or

c) 900 places for sows.

16. Industrial plants for the

a) production of pulp from timber or similar fibrous materials;

b) production of paper and board with a production capacity exceeding 200 tonnes per day.

17. Quarries and open-cast mining where the surface of the site exceeds 25 hectares, or peat extraction, where the surface of the site exceeds 150 hectares.

18. Construction of overhead electrical power lines with a voltage of 220 kV or more and a length of more than 15 km.

19. Installations for storage of petroleum, petrochemical, or chemical products with a capacity of 200,000 tonnes or more.

20. Large-scale logging.

21. Large-scale tourism and retail development.

22. Large-scale land reclamation.

23. Large-scale primary agriculture/silviculture involving the intensification or conversion of natural habitats.

24. Plants for the tanning of hides and skins where the treatment capacity exceeds 12 tonnes of finished products per day.

25. Projects which are planned to be carried out in sensitive locations or are likely to have a perceptible impact on such locations, even if the project category does not appear in this list. Such sensitive locations include national parks and other protected areas identified by national or international law, and other sensitive locations of international, national or regional importance, such as wetlands, forests with high biodiversity value, areas of archaeological or cultural significance, and areas of importance for indigenous peoples or other vulnerable groups.

26. Projects involving the involuntary resettlement of a significant number of affected people.

27. Storage sites pursuant to EU Directive 2009/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the geological storage of carbon dioxide.

28. Installations for the capture of CO2 streams for the purposes of geological storage pursuant to Directive 2009/31/EC from installations covered by this list of Category A projects, or where the total yearly capture of CO2 is 1.5 megatonnes or more.

29. Any change to or extension of projects listed in Category A where such a change or extension in itself meets the thresholds, if any, set out in Category A list of projects.