What is an Environmental Assessment (EA)?

An Environmental Assessment is the process of determining what environmental impacts, if any, there will be during a project and how to minimize the impacts. The Environmental Assessment process falls under the Ontario Environmental Assessment Act.

The term "environment" includes the natural, social, cultural, built and economic environments.

There are two types of Environmental Assessment (EA) processes:

1. Individual EA - where projects have Terms of Reference and an individual environmental assessment carried out and submitted to the Minister of the Environment for review and approval.
2. Class EA - where projects are approved subject to compliance with an approved class environmental assessment process with respect to a class of undertakings.