plan approvals process may tighten in California

Facing lawsuits challenging Environmental Impact Reports that don't assess the effects on global warming of particular projects, California is under pressure to consider climate change in decisions on land use, transportation, energy production and other projects requiring approval from public planning agencies. New land use policy may soon require, for example, that additional carbon emissions resulting from an energy-inefficient housing project or a car-based commercial development be quantified and considered in the approval process.

I wrote in November 2004 about Western Australia's updated neighbourhoood planning policy that encouraged lot design to allow for climate-responsive dwellings as part of a strategy to reduce energy consumption. The Californian and Western Australian examples are coming at the issue from different angles, and it would be interesting to see whether the two approaches could form components of one strategy.