Placing people at the heart of Environmental Impact Assessment: ISEP Launches New Guide on Social Impact Assessment

29 October 2025

The social side of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has often been overshadowed by its environmental and technical components. While ecology, landscape, and heritage rightly receive detailed consideration, the impacts on people: their jobs, homes, wellbeing, communities, and sense of place, have not always been given equal weight.

That balance is shifting. We are proud to launch the new guide on Social Impact Assessment in Environmental Impact Assessment, a milestone publication from the ISEP Impact Assessment Network. This guide marks a step-change in professional practice, ensuring that communities and their experiences are placed firmly at the centre of how projects are planned, assessed, and delivered.

The guide sets out a clear and practical framework for integrating Social Impact Assessment into EIA. It draws on legislation, international best practice, and the latest thinking in deliberative approaches. Practitioners, developers, regulators, and communities will all find within it practical tools, from scoping checklists to real-world examples, to ensure that social impacts are identified early, understood properly, and addressed fairly.

At its core, the guide emphasises that projects should be designed with people in mind. This means considering the economic, cultural, and environmental dimensions of change together, and ensuring that fairness, trust, and collaboration shape the process. By applying the guidance, practitioners can deliver projects that are not only environmentally responsible but also socially just.

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Importantly, this publication also introduces deliberative approaches: methods such as citizen panels and participatory workshops, which provide meaningful ways for communities to shape project outcomes. These approaches can help build trust, strengthen legitimacy, and reduce conflict, while also unlocking creative and equitable solutions.

The new guide is rich in practical advice, written by leading experts across the field of social and environmental assessment. It provides the clarity and credibility needed to raise standards and strengthen confidence in the EIA process.

This launch is a significant step forward for the profession, and for the communities whose voices are too often overlooked. With this guide, we can ensure that future projects leave a positive legacy for people, places, and nature alike.

ISEP members can download the guide for free

Download now

Non ISEP members can purchase the guide from our shop


Published by:
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Rufus Howard FISEP

Policy and Engagement Lead

Dr Howard is the policy and engagement lead for Impact Assessment at ISEP and a leading professional in EIA, with two decades of international experience across renewable energy and major infrastructure. A Fellow of ISEP and Chartered Environmentalist, Rufus holds degrees in Biodiversity Conservation and Environmental Law, and a doctorate in Management. A trusted advisor, Rufus has directed environmental projects for major organisations such as the World Bank, The Crown Estate, Natural Resources Wales, the EBRD, Statkraft, Orsted, National Grid, and the Environment Agency. Rufus lives in Kent with his wife and three daughters and enjoys walking in nature, cooking, music, kayaking and archery.


Published by:
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Claire Lawless

Director of Social Sustainability - ERM