Welcome

Welcome to the ICF Jones & Stokes Climate Change Focus Group web site. ICF Jones & Stokes is a multidisciplinary environmental consulting firm that specializes in the environmental analysis required under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The Climate Change Focus Group is a multidisciplinary team of ICF Jones & Stokes CEQA/NEPA specialists with expertise in air quality, water resources and flood management, natural resources, transportation, ports and goods movement, energy and public utilities, land use planning, and environmental law. ICF Jones & Stokes has assembled the Climate Change Focus Group to develop guidance on how to best address climate change as part of the CEQA/NEPA process.

On September 27, 2006, the State of California passed into law the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (commonly referred to as AB 32), which states that global warming poses a serious threat to the environment of California. With the passage of this legislation, global warming leaves the domain of scientific speculation and becomes political and regulatory reality.

On September 27, 2006, the State of California passed into law the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (commonly referred to as AB 32), which states that global warming poses a serious threat to the environment of California. With the passage of this legislation, global warming leaves the domain of scientific speculation and becomes political and regulatory reality.

Projects that require CEQA/NEPA analysis are facing increasing pressure to identify and address global warming as part of a project's environmental analysis. Addressing climate change within the scope of CEQA/NEPA is made difficult by the paucity of explicit regulatory guidance on how to apply existing CEQA/NEPA regulations to this evolving and vital topic.

Numerous metropolitan planning organizations have already been notified by the Attorney General of California that global warming analysis needs to be meaningfully addressed as part of the long-term transportation and regional development planning process. In addition, several proposed commercial and retail development projects are being legally challenged for lacking a climate change discussion in the project's environmental documentation. It is anticipated that legal challenges to CEQA/NEPA documents will increase dramatically in the short term. Failure to address climate change properly in CEQA/NEPA documents may result in significant legal delays for proposed projects.

The ICF Jones & Stokes Climate Change Focus Group has created an industry whitepaper to demonstrate the framework by which one can address climate change within CEQA/NEPA documents within the evolving regulatory framework. In addition, ICF Jones & Stokes has developed the next generation of the URBEMIS air quality modeling software that is able to estimate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with land use and development projects.

With our multidisciplinary experts and our strong ties to such major regulatory agencies as the California Air Resources Board (CARB), California Department of Water Resources (DWR), California Energy Commission (CEC), and the California State Clearinghouse, the ICF Jones & Stokes Climate Change Focus Group is uniquely poised to provide CEQA/NEPA climate change guidance in this regulatory transition period.

Please use the navigation panel above to learn more about AB 32, the ICF Jones & Stokes climate change industry whitepaper, the climate change capable version of URBEMIS, and the Climate Change Focus Group members.