An increasing number of jurisdictions are using environmental impact assessment as a tool for climate change mitigation (in brief, ‘Climate Assessment’, or CA). This chapter debates whether this is a legal obligation, or whether this even makes sense. Benoit Mayer argues that CA is emerging as a rule of customary international law, and that, moreover, it is a potentially useful mitigation tool. Alexander Zahar, by contrast, questions the meaningfulness of CA, arguing that it is impossible to determine what constitutes a significant, excessive, or disproportionate emission of greenhouse gases in the case of a proposed activity subject to CA, or at all.

An increasing number of jurisdictions are using environmental impact assessment as a tool for climate change mitigation (in brief, ‘Climate Assessment’, or CA). This chapter debates whether this is a legal obligation, or whether this even makes sense. Benoit Mayer argues that CA is emerging as a rule of customary international law, and that, moreover, it is a potentially useful mitigation tool. Alexander Zahar, by contrast, questions the meaningfulness of CA, arguing that it is impossible to determine what constitutes a significant, excessive, or disproportionate emission of greenhouse gases in the case of a proposed activity subject to CA, or at all.