Incorporating climate change impacts and adaptation in environmental impact assessments: Opportunities and challenges

National governments and international donors have put considerable effort in developing methodologies and tools to screen projects for risks posed by climate change. However, the application of such tools within actual project settings remains limited. An alternate approach would be to examine the feasibility of incorporating consideration of climate change impacts and adaptation within existing modalities for project design, approval and implementation. Environmental impact assessments (EIA) are particularly relevant in this context. This analysis identifies potential entry points for employing EIA as a vehicle for enhancing the resilience of projects to climate change impacts. It also documents progress in this direction by developed and developing countries. Several governments have signalled their intent to move in this direction; this assessment could find examples in only two countries of projects that considered climate change impacts and adaptation in EIA. A key bottleneck is the lack of availability of detailed historical and future climate information. While innovative approaches are tested in various jurisdictions to incorporate climate change impacts and adaptation within EIA, it is important that they retain flexibility. There is also a need to invest in the provision of climate change information, and to improve communication between the scientific community and practitioners.