Various mechanisms have been proposed to ensure that environmental evaluations are fair and unbiased. One that has not found favour is that the proponent of a project should not appoint the professional team undertaking the evaluation. Project proponents reject this approach on the purported grounds that this undermined the client-professional relationship and that it is not conducive to trust and openness. The generally favoured mechanism is that of third party review of an environmental evaluation before it is passed on to the relevant decision maker. This, in turn is not without its problems.
Practice varies in different countries.
In some, environmental professionals in government agencies undertake review, sometimes with and sometimes without the public having sight of the report being reviewed. In others review consultants are appointed by government agencies and the costs recovered from the project proponent. In South Africa a wide variety of variations occur. In the worst cases environmental reports are not reviewed at all, or are reviewed only by officials with no professional competence or experience. A distinct improvement is review by independent professionals appointed by the proponent, together with the release of the report for public review.