Analysis of Significant Impacts
After identifying the impacts, the next step is to analyze their significance in terms of impact to the environment and species, violation of environmental regulations, etc. The information available on each impact should be carefully analyzed, compared with acceptable limits, and evaluated for potential harm to the environment. For example, manufacturing a product can result in scrap materials, disposal of cleaning solvents, release of gases, use of energy, etc. These aspects can impact the environment in various ways and can be ranked according to their significance.
Each aspect is ranked according to the significance of its impacts as:
- H – High, most environmental impact
- MH – Moderately High
- M – Moderate
- ML – Moderately Low
- L – Low, lowest or least environmental impact
It should be emphasized here that the aspects are ranked and not the impacts. The activities associated with aspects can be changed or substituted to control the impacts.
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