Climate impact assessment tool guidance

1. Complete all information on the project details page
2. Answer all 10 environment questions. Each question has 4 parts – A, B, C and D. Answer parts A-C using the drop downs, and enter an explanation for why you have chosen those options in the text box marked D. Only enter text in yellow boxes.

3. Answer all 11 social questions. Each question has 4 parts – A, B, C and D.  Answer parts A-C using the drop downs, and enter an explanation for why you have chosen those options in the text box marked D. Only enter text in yellow boxes.

4. If the project has no impact on a certain factor, be sure to select the ‘not applicable/no impact’ option in box A. Parts B, C, and D can remain blank unless a justification is needed to support the answer.
5. Once you have answered all environment and social questions, check the Every segment should be coloured either grey, red, amber or green. If any segment remains white, it means this question hasn’t been answered – please return and answer the question.

The colours signify the below:

6. Once you have a fully coloured wheel, refer to the summary report which collates all the answers. This information is used to draft the Environmental Implications section on a cabinet report and can be used within the narrative of the report.
7. Once drafted, send the completed tool and cabinet report to the climate team for review.

Some things to keep in mind when completing the tool

Much of the information requested may be unknown at this stage, but please answer the questions using the best of your knowledge. Remember to explain why you have chosen this option in box D.

Try not to make assumptions on what will happen after the decision has been made, such as building a cycle hub doesn’t automatically mean less people will drive, selling a property doesn’t always result in a high standard retrofit. 

There is guidance throughout – look for the examples on the right hand side of each question.

What to do if you have a red or amber segment

A number of red sections signifies that a project or policy will have severely negative impacts in the indicated areas. This may be cause for concern, but at this stage will not be reason enough to reject a proposal.

To encourage transparent use of the tool, the project manager should take one of three routes, and should add this to any proposal or cabinet report:

• Change – make some changes to the existing project proposal to reduce the negative impact in that area. For instance, a project/policy developer may choose to alter the design of a construction project using green infrastructure so that it enhances rather than reduces biodiversity.
• Mitigate – When nothing can be done to reduce the severity of the negative impact(s), changes can be made elsewhere. For example in an instance where greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are unavoidable, such as construction, the project/policy developer may choose to reduce an equivalent amount of GHG emissions elsewhere.
• Justify – When no improvements can be made, a justification should be given. For example, in cases where there is a contractual or legal obligation to proceed, or where no mitigating actions are possible.