評估的目的是確保決策者在決定是否進行項目時將環境影響列入考慮。國際環境影響評估協會(英語:International Association for Impact Assessment)(IAIA)將環境影響評估定義為"在做出重大決定和承諾之前,先識別、預測、評估和減輕開發提案所具有生物物理、社會和其他相關影響的程序"。[61]評估的獨特之處在於其並未要求項目達到預定的環境結果,而是要求決策者在過程中考慮環境價值,並根據詳細的環境研究和公眾對潛在環境影響的評論來證明這些決策的合理性。[62]
Climate Science Special Report – Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4), Volume I, Executive Summary. U.S. Global Change Research Program: 1–470. [2017-12-02]. (原始內容存檔於2019-06-14). This assessment concludes, based on extensive evidence, that it is extremely likely that human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases, are the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century. For the warming over the last century, there is no convincing alternative explanation supported by the extent of the observational evidence. In addition to warming, many other aspects of global climate are changing, primarily in response to human activities. Thousands of studies conducted by researchers around the world have documented changes in surface, atmospheric, and oceanic temperatures; melting glaciers; diminishing snow cover; shrinking sea ice; rising sea levels; ocean acidification; and increasing atmospheric water vapor.
Ripple, William J.; Wolf, Christopher; Newsome, Thomas M; Barnard, Phoebe; Moomaw, William R. World Scientists' Warning of a Climate Emergency. BioScience. 2019-11-05 [2019-11-08]. doi:10.1093/biosci/biz088. hdl:1808/30278. (原始內容存檔於2020-01-03). Still increasing by roughly 80 million people per year, or more than 200,000 per day (figure 1a–b), the world population must be stabilized—and, ideally, gradually reduced—within a framework that ensures social integrity. There are proven and effective policies that strengthen human rights while lowering fertility rates and lessening the impacts of population growth on GHG emissions and biodiversity loss. These policies make family-planning services available to all people, remove barriers to their access and achieve full gender equity, including primary and secondary education as a global norm for all, especially girls and young women (Bongaarts and O』Neill 2018).
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Increased Ocean Acidity. Epa.gov. United States Environmental Protection Agency. 30 August 2016 [2017-11-23]. (原始內容存檔於2011-06-23). Carbon dioxide is added to the atmosphere whenever people burn fossil fuels. Oceans play an important role in keeping the Earth's carbon cycle in balance. As the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rises, the oceans absorb a lot of it. In the ocean, carbon dioxide reacts with seawater to form carbonic acid. This causes the acidity of seawater to increase.
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Libiszewski, Stephan. What is an Environmental Conflict?(PDF). Journal of Peace Research. 1991, 28 (4): 407–422 [2023-12-18]. (原始內容存檔(PDF)於2022-03-25).
Cardoso, Andrea. Behind the life cycle of coal: Socio-environmental liabilities of coal mining in Cesar, Colombia. Ecological Economics. December 2015, 120: 71–82. doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.10.004.
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Luomi, Mari. Global Climate Change Governance: The search for effectiveness and universality (報告). International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). 2020. JSTOR resrep29269.
Holder, J., (2004), Environmental Assessment: The Regulation of Decision Making, Oxford University Press, New York; For a comparative discussion of the elements of various domestic EIA systems, see Christopher Wood Environmental Impact Assessment: A Comparative Review (2 ed, Prentice Hall, Harlow, 2002).
Steffen, Will; Sanderson, Regina Angelina; Tyson, Peter D.; Jäger, Jill; Matson, Pamela A.; Moore III, Berrien; Oldfield, Frank; Richardson, Katherine; Schellnhuber, Hans-Joachim. Global Change and the Earth System: A Planet Under Pressure. Springer Science+Business Media. 2006-01-27 [2022-10-04]. ISBN 978-3-540-26607-5(英語).