IEMA launch new Digital Impact Assessment Primer

IEMA have launched a new Digital Impact Assessment Primer to outline how the industry can embrace digital practices throughout impact assessment processes.

"Digital Impact Assessment has been steadily evolving over the past 5 years. The current epidemic will inevitably accelerate this process, with discussions already underway for digital planning hearings. The timing of IEMAs latest primer, on Digital Impact Assessment, will therefore be welcomed by professionals as we enter a period of mandatory remote and digital working. The primer will allow developers, regulators, local authorities and practitioners to get up to speed quickly with the current state of Digital IA".

Dr Rufus Howard BSc (Hons), LLM, FIEMA, PEIA, CEnv, PhD. Impact Assessment Lead – IEMA

‘Embracing innovation and digital’ is one of the four strategic themes for action in IEMA’s ‘Delivering Proportionate EIA’ strategy. This new IEMA primer on Digital Impact Assessment (IA) is a milestone in the profession's IA digital journey and the first published guidance on Digital IA from IEMA.

The IEMA IA Digital Working group joined 13 other industry leaders to explore how digital practices and emerging technologies can be incorporated into the development impact assessment process. Together, the Working Group considered the application of these ideas to environmental impact assessment and strategic environmental assessment, along with several other assessment and appraisal methodologies.

The resulting primer defines what Digital Impact Assessment (Digital IA) is, why it is needed, and outlines how digital tools and technology - such as unmanned aerial vehicles, geographic information systems, mobile mapping, virtual reality and remote sensing - could be utilised to provide data for impact assessments. The key opportunities and challenges associated with this, as well as using digital tools for data analysis and communication are also discussed, along with the principles for implementing Digital IA and a consideration of what the next steps will be.

Download your copy today here