Impact studies will have to be carried out for all major infrastructure projects, to take into account their contribution to climate change.
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US President Joe Biden has reinstated the requirement to assess the environmental consequences of all major infrastructure projects, including impacts on climate change, the White House announced in a statement on Tuesday April 19.
Whether it is for highways, oil pipelines or any other large project, the competent federal agencies must imperatively include the effects on climate change in these impact studies. This obligation previously appeared in the National Environmental Policy Act, but Donald Trump had reformed it in 2020 to restrict the scope of the effects studied, in particular by excluding the contribution to climate change and other “cumulative” impacts.
The White House promises that this reform will not lead to additional delays for construction projects already under consideration. She also indicated that she would offer “in the coming months” additional changes to this law, to bring “further improvements for the efficiency of environmental assessment processes”.