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
The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law has developed a set of model protocols for assessing the impacts of climate change on the built environment under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and similar state and local laws, including those for environmental impact assessments (EIAs). This paper summarizes the legal and empirical research used for the development of these protocols.
The need for climate change risk and impact assessments and the rationale for incorporating them into project-level EIAs is explained first. According to the Center, there are multiple benefits with the main objective to be to facilitate the successful “climate proofing” of projects and to avoid maladaptation to climate change.
The legal requirements of NEPA are outlined along with an explanation of how the consideration of climate impacts fits within the environmental analysis conducted by federal agencies under NEPA.
The paper reviews the existing guidelines for integrating climate impact and vulnerability assessments into EIA documents, including guidelines developed by governmental as well as non-governmental organizations. Examples are given for state and local governments. Several states, including California, New York, Massachusetts, and Washington have developed these guidelines for assessing the impacts of climate change on projects undergoing EIA. The legal basis for such guidelines is discussed in Section 4.2. A handful of localities (New York, NY, San Francisco, CA, and King County, WA) have also generated their own guidelines for assessments. Table 3.2: State and Local Government Guidance and Assessment Frameworks, lists these documents.
The Sabin Center also surveyed how federal Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) currently address the impacts of climate change on projects subject to NEPA review. The key findings are that federal agencies have begun to assess these impacts, but it is still very rare for an agency to conduct a thorough assessment of how climate change may impact a project and its surrounding environment. The findings from the survey are in Table 4.4: Federal EISs with Detailed Assessment of Climate Change Impacts.
Section 6 contains the model protocols for assessing the impact of climate change on the built environment under NEPA and similar statutes. A protocol is given for incorporating climate change into Environmental Impact Statements (EISs), detailing the following steps:
Step 1: Identifying Climate Change Impacts during the Scoping Process
Step 2: Evaluating the Impacts of Climate Change
Step 3: Justifying the Final Decision
Step 4: Communicating Results to the Public
Publication Date: August 12, 2015
Author or Affiliated User:
- Jessica Wentz
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- Legal Analysis
