Tool 8: Identifying the gender implications of environmental impacts

When carrying out an assessment of environmental impacts, you should aim to go a step further and consider how environmental aspects or areas need to be analysed through a gender lens to obtain a more accurate picture of reality.

This tool will help you identify the gender implications behind each environmental impact your intervention might have.

This tool consists of one step:

  1. analysing the environmental impacts through a gender lens.

How can interventions have an environmental impact?

Interventions can have numerous environmental impacts. Transport, energy, agriculture and circular economy policies in the EU can potentially have significant impacts on biodiversity and landscape, water and air quality, soil quality and change in land use or degradation, climate factors (e.g. adaptation and mitigation), efficient use of resources, and pollution, toxicity and environmental risks.

Before continuing, refresh your memory on the main categories of environmental factors and when you should analyse environmental impacts using tool #36 of the Better regulation toolbox.

Assessing the environmental impacts effects of your intervention involves identifying what effects the intervention is likely to have, focusing on effects resulting from:

  • the use of natural resources;
  • the emission of pollutants;
  • the impact of the intervention on climate;
  • the risks to populations, human health, cultural heritage, landscape or other environmental and social factors;
  • the cumulative effects of the intervention in conjunction with other existing and/or approved interventions;
  • other crucial effects on natural habitats, biodiversity, energy consumption, waste generation and livelihoods.

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User role
  • Evaluators