Hantering av klimatrisker i miljökonsekvensbeskrivningar

Sammanfattning: Climate change and its risks are important aspects in the work for sustainable development. This is to protect the current and future generations from climate change’s negative consequence. Sustainable development forms a pillar in the Swedish Environmental Code. The code provides tools for coping with climate change in the form of Environmental impact assessments. The amendment to chapter 6 of the code in 2018 led to changes in environmental assessment. The amendment aimed to improve the quality of environmental assessments through appropriate rules and clarification in the law. Previous research shows that the quality of environmental impact assessments has been incoherent. This is partly due to lack of knowledge about environmental impacts, but also due to lack of data on climate change. Time and financial conditions have also been shown to play a role in the design of environmental impact assessments together with the relationship between practitioner and the consultant. Climate as an aspect in the Environmental Code is also broad and provides room for interpretation for practitioners. The aim of the study is to examine how risks to present and future generations are described in environmental impact assessments. In order to conduct the study, a thematic analysis has been carried out on five selected environmental impact assessments from the year 2020. The theoretical framework consisted of political ecology and environmental justice.   The results of the analysis showed that despite the change in chapter six of the Environmental Code in 2018, climate change and the risks related to it have not been adequately in all environmental impact assessments. There is a great potential for environmental assessments to be improved in practice. Further research in the field of climate change and knowledge about the area is a possibility to integrate these aspects for participants.  Keywords: Environmental impact assessment, climate change, risk, political ecology, environmental justice.