The central idea animating environmental impact assessment (EIA) is that decisions affecting the environment should be made through a comprehensive evaluation of predicted impacts. Notwithstanding their evaluative mandate, EIA processes do not impose specific environmental standards, but rely on the creation of open, participatory and information rich decision-making settings to bring about environmentally benign outcomes. In light of this tension between process and substance, Neil Craik assesses whether EIA, as a method of implementing international environmental law, is a sound policy strategy, and how international EIA commitments structure transnational interactions in order to influence decisions affecting the international environment. Through a comprehensive description of international EIA commitments and their implementation with domestic and transnational governance structures, and drawing on specific examples of transnational EIA processes, the author examines how international EIA commitments can facilitate interest coordination, and provide opportunities for persuasion and for the internalization of international environmental norms.

Interdisciplinary approach provides theoretical understanding of relationship between process-oriented legal scholarship and strands of international relations theory and domestic environmental policy studies Examination of sources of international EIA commitments and their antecedents in domestic and international environmental law allows for comparative analysis across different treaty regimes Illustrative case examples and in-depth analysis of a particular form of international environmental governance gives reader the necessary knowledge and understanding for further empirical analysis