Climate change impact assessment for individual developments: evaluating transportation's contribution

Public Deposited
Analytics

Downloadable Content

Download PDF
Request Version for Screen Reader
Last Modified
  • February 28, 2019
Creator
  • Brubaker, Jeffery S.
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of City and Regional Planning
Abstract
  • Recent research suggests that global climate change impacts may be more serious than predicted even two years ago. The transportation sector is a major contributor of greenhouse gases (GHGs), and the context, design, and operation of urban developments influence the extent of their transportation-related climate change impacts. Impact assessment is a formal environmental policy tool that has only recently expanded to climate change, most notably under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). This paper suggests a conceptual framework for setting a significance threshold for climate change impacts from individual developments, discussing challenges and measurement techniques. It reports the findings of a policy review of California regulations, plans, and CEQA environmental impact reports (EIRs) that address climate change. It supplements the review with notes from interviews with California officials and planners involved in climate change policy. A hypothetical application of the significance framework estimates that development-influenced vehicle travel contributes to about 3.4% of total U.S. GHGs. It is possible for developments to avoid a significant contribution to climate change through location, design, and travel demand management strategies that have been shown to reduce emissions. Climate change impact assessment is valuable for individual developments, but, given the nature of climate change, is best conducted at the regional or programmatic level. This accords with the current regionalization of climate change planning in California. The most effective approach for individual developments is a hybrid approach that combines emissions scenario modeling with a qualitative discussion of mitigation measures and climate-friendly project characteristics.
Date of publication
DOI
Resource type
Rights statement
  • In Copyright
Advisor
  • McDonald, Noreen
Degree
  • Master of City and Regional Planning
Degree granting institution
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Language
Location
  • California, California, United States
Extent
  • 36 p.
Access right
  • Open access
Date uploaded
  • December 10, 2010

Relations

Parents:

This work has no parents.

In Collection:

Items

Thumbnail Title Date Uploaded Visibility Actions
file details Climate change impact assessment for individual developments: evaluating transportation's contribution 2019-04-25 Public Download