1. In-combination Climate Impacts

  1. In accordance with the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) Environmental Impact Assessment Guide to: Climate Change Resilience & Adaptation, June 2020 (IEMA, 2020), this annex contains an in-combination climate impact (ICCI) assessment to complement the Climate Vulnerability assessment of the Project (see Appendix 5.2 of the Onshore EIA Report).
  2. Table 1.2   Open ▸ and Table 1.4   Open ▸ present the effects of the Project in combination with anticipated future climate change on environmental receptors, i.e. it assesses the extent to which anticipated future climate change exacerbates the effects of the Project on an identified environmental receptor (IEMA, 2020). Table 1.2   Open ▸ sets out the in-combination climate impacts for the offshore Proposed Development and Table 1.4   Open ▸ those for the onshore Proposed Development.
  3. Each table sets out:

-          climate hazards as described in section 4.2.3 of the Climate Vulnerability assessment of the Project for the Climate Vulnerability study area defined in section 4.1.1 of the assessment (see Appendix 5.2);

-          receptors that are likely to be sensitive to the projected climate hazard during the construction and operation and maintenance phases of the offshore Proposed Development and onshore Proposed Development respectively, as screened in Table 1.1   Open ▸ and Table 1.3   Open ▸ , based on professional judgement or/and literature reviews as noted in volume 2, chapters 7 to 19 and in appendix 20.1 of the offshore Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Report, and based on professional judgement with regards to the onshore EIA Report. The receptors are those within the study area defined for each EIA topic in the offshore EIA Report, volume 2, chapters 7 to 19, and in the onshore EIA Report, volume 1, chapters 6 to 14;

-          a qualitative description of the identified potential in-combination climate impacts (ICCI);

-          statement on whether the ICCI is likely to be significant based on expert judgement, i.e. whether the predicted climate change hazard exacerbates the effects on an environmental receptor to such a degree that effects identified in topic-specific assessment as not significant are now considered to be potentially significant, or effects identified in the topic-specific assessment as significant are found to have an exacerbated significance; and

-          an explanation of the approach to mitigation measures for predicted likely significant ICCI.

Offshore Proposed Development

Table 1.1:
Screening of Offshore EIA Receptor Groups Likely to be Sensitive to Projected Future Climate Hazards (green: not likely sensitive, i.e. screened out; orange: likely sensitive, i.e. screened in)

Table 1.1: Screening of Offshore EIA Receptor Groups Likely to be Sensitive to Projected Future Climate Hazards (green: not likely sensitive, i.e. screened out; orange: likely sensitive, i.e. screened in)

 

Table 1.2:
Offshore In-combination Climate Impacts

Table 1.2: Offshore In-combination Climate Impacts


Onshore Proposed Development

 

Table 1.3:
Screening of Onshore EIA Receptor Groups Likely to be Sensitive to Projected Future Climate Hazards (green: not likely sensitive, i.e. screened out; orange: likely sensitive, i.e. screened in)

Table 1.3: Screening of Onshore EIA Receptor Groups Likely to be Sensitive to Projected Future Climate Hazards (green: not likely sensitive, i.e. screened out; orange: likely sensitive, i.e. screened in)

 

Table 1.4:
Onshore In-combination Climate Impacts

Table 1.4: Onshore In-combination Climate Impacts

 

2. Summary

  1. An ICCI assessment has been undertaken for the offshore Proposed Development and onshore Proposed Development. The potential ICCI are not greater than the likely significant effects assessed in the relevant topic chapters of the Offshore EIA Report and Onshore EIA Report respectively, or have been assessed as not being significant.  

 

3. References

Fullick, E., Bidewell, C. A., Duff, J. P., Holmes, J. P, Howie, F., Robinson, C. Goodman, G., Beckmann, K. M. and Philbey, A. W. (2022). Mass mortality of seabirds in GB. Veterinary Record. 190(3), pp.129-130.

Hakkinen, H., Petrovan, S.O., Sutherland, W.J., Dias, M.P., Ameca, E.I., Oppel, S., Ramírez, I., Lawson, B., Lehikoinen, A., Bowgen, K.M. and Taylor, N.G. (2022). Linking climate change vulnerability research and evidence on conservation action effectiveness to safeguard European seabird populations. Journal of Applied Ecology, 59(5), pp.1178-1186.

Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA). (2020). IEMA Environmental Impact Assessment Guide to Climate Change Resilience and Adaptation. Available at: https://www.iema.net/resources/reading-room/2020/06/26/iema-eia-guide-to-climate-change-resilience-and-adaptation-2020 Accessed on: 30 June 2022.

Johnston, D.T., Humphreys, E.M., Davies, J.G. and Pearce-Higgins, J.W. (2021). Review of climate change mechanisms affecting seabirds within the INTERREG VA area. Report to Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute and Marine Scotland Science as part of the Marine Protected Area Management and Monitoring (MarPAMM) project.

Kogure, Y., Sato, K., Watanuki, Y., Wanless, S. and Daunt, F. (2016). European shags optimize their flight behavior according to wind conditions. Journal of Experimental Biology, 219, pp.311-318.

Mallory, M.L., Gaston, A.J. and Gilchrist, H.G. (2009). Sources of breeding season mortality in Canadian Arctic seabirds. Arctic, pp.333-341.

Marine Scotland. (2020). Seabirds. Available at: https://marine.gov.scot/sma/assessment/seabirds-0. Accessed on: 20 August 2022.

Mitchell, I., Daunt, F., Frederiksen, M. and Wade, K. (2020). Impacts of climate change on seabirds, relevant to the coastal and marine environment around the UK. MCCIP Science Review 2020, pp.382-399

Newell, M., Harris, M. P., Daunt, F., Watts, E., Quinn, L. and Wanless, S. (2013). Isle of May seabird studies in 2007. JNCC Peterborough, JNCC Report No. 475c.

Oswald, S.A. and Arnold, J.M. (2012). Direct impacts of climatic warming on heat stress in endothermic species: seabirds as bioindicators of changing thermoregulatory constraints. Integrative Zoology, 7(2), pp.121-136.

Oswald, S.A., Bearhop, S., Furness, R.W., Huntley, B. and Hmer, K.C. (2008). Heat stress in a high-latitude seabird: effects of temperature and food supply on bathing and nest attendance of great skuas Catharacta skua. Journal of Avian Biology, 39(2), pp.163-169.

Ratcliffe, N., Schmitt, S., Mayo, A., Tratalos, J. and Drewitt, A. (2008). Colony habitat selection by little terms Sternula albifrons in East Anglia: implications for coastal management. Seabird, 21, pp.55-63.

Schaft, H.A., Whelan, S. and Elliott, K.H. (2019). Huffin and puffin: seabirds use large bills to dissipate heat from energetically demanding flight. Journal of Experimental Biology, 222(21), jeb212563.

 

 

[1] Migratory cues are environmental factors that trigger migration, such as day length or temperature changes.