Assessing the Impacts of Climate Change on the Built Environment Under NEPA and State EIA Laws: A Survey of Current Practices and Recommendations for Model Protocols
Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia Law School, August 2015
65 Pages Posted: 30 Sep 2015 Last revised: 29 Oct 2015
Date Written: August 1, 2015
Abstract
This paper outlines a set of model protocols for assessing the impacts of climate change on projects undergoing environmental reviews in accordance with NEPA and state equivalents. In addition, the paper describes: (i) the rationale for integrating climate impact considerations into environmental impact assessment (EIA) processes, (ii) the legal basis for requiring agencies to evaluate climate impacts during reviews conducted under NEPA and other EIA laws, (iii) a survey of existing guidelines for such evaluations, (iv) a survey of how climate change impacts are evaluated in recent federal EISs, and (v) a summary of outcomes from a stakeholder workshop convened to discuss the development of these protocols.
Keywords: National Environmental Policy Act, NEPA, environmental impact assessment, environmental impact statement, adaptation, resilience, climate change, built environment
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation