Climate resilience in Environmental Impact Assessments: What it means and why it matters
Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) are a critical tool used to evaluate the environmental, social, and economic impacts of a proposed project. Discover more about how we are integrating EIAs into our work to enhance climate resilience and informed decision-making.
Exploring the role and regulations of EIAs in the UK
Rooted in EU Directive 2011/92/EU and integrated into UK law, the EIA process enables the assessment of all likely significant effects, both positive and negative, to support decision-making. The EU Directive is transposed into UK legislation by the EIA Regulations 2017, which apply through separate but similar regulations across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. EIA supports various consenting routes, such as Town and Country Planning or Marine Works, providing a comprehensive foundation for decision-making by local planning authorities to grant planning permission. Its overarching goal is to facilitate sustainable development and shouldn’t be seen as a barrier to growth or development.
An EIA can help with:
- Improving environmental design and outcomes
- Generating better informed decision making
- Identifying appropriate measures for mitigation of potential impacts and enhancement opportunities
- Reducing consenting risk, delay and cost.
The EIA process typically involves three key stages:
- Screening to determine if an EIA is required
- Scoping to identify what the scope of assessment should be
- Preparation of an Environmental Statement (ES) that documents the findings and proposed mitigation measures.
The concept of resilience in EIA
The resilience of something is a measure of its ability to respond to changes it experiences. If a receptor or project has good climate change resilience, it can respond to climactic changes in a way that ensures it retains much of its original function and form.
Under the EIA Directive, it is outlined that ‘climate change will continue to cause damage to the environment and compromise economic development’. The effects of climate change can include warmer temperatures, rainfall patterns, sea level rise, and increased frequency and severity of storms - with the effects likely to intensify over time. Therefore ‘it is appropriate to assess the impact of projects on climate and their vulnerability to change.’
The Environmental Statement must demonstrate how climate resilience has been effectively integrated into the design and development of a project. This involves incorporating appropriate mitigation measures - either embedded within the project design or added separately - to show how resilience considerations have been addressed.
To demonstrate this, a key first stage is to identify the current baseline of the site in environmental terms (e.g. current levels of flooding and biodiversity present) and consider the future baseline that is likely to evolve over the timescale of the project.
The future baseline can be further defined through different scenarios including; Do Nothing, Maintain – likely conditions without the project, and Do Something – with the project implemented.
As part of this future baseline identification, alternative options should be developed based on a consideration of several factors including; short and long-term aims of the project, design life, what the environment will be in the future, incorporation of nature-based solutions, and adopting an adaptive pathway approach where possible.
Hurst Spit to Lymington
An example of this can be seen in the work we are undertaking for the Environment Agency on the Hurst Spit to Lymington Flood and Coastal Erosion Management (FCERM) Strategy. Hurst Spit provides a degree of protection from the dominant south-westerly wave direction. The reduced wave exposure in the lee of the spit creates sheltered areas where sedimentation has occurred, leading to the development of valuable coastal saltmarsh and mudflats. However, saltmarsh habitats are in decline due to coastal squeeze, rising sea levels and increased exposure to wave activity. Therefore, the future management of Hurst Spit is inextricably linked to the habitats which it currently protects.
An adaptive pathway approach has been adopted that will allow decision makers to take effective actions under the uncertainty associated with climate change and the associated changes to future environmental conditions. The approach aims to establish a specified preferred pathway with options that can be adopted depending on how uncertainties manifest in the future. Such uncertainties include but are not limited to the condition of designated sites, the magnitude of sea level rise expected and legislation that will be monitored over the course of the strategy.
Contact Joanna Walker, our EIA Discipline Lead for more information.
