The need for actions on climate change is widely recognized as an issue of global priority. Consideration of climate impacts early in the planning process of any new developments can contribute to a material extent to the global efforts in addressing climate change. Thus, by integrating climate mitigation, resilience and adaptation into new developments that may directly or indirectly impact upon the climate, or be impacted by the changing climate, may contribute to considering this issue in a preventive, and a more structured and efficient manner. The most appropriate planning instrument for such purpose is unquestionably the Environmental Assessment (EA), which has been developed and successfully applied worldwide, including in Moldova. Despite the fact that climate change is regarded as a national environmental policy priority, until present however, the climate change mitigation, resilience and adaptation are not systematically integrated into the EA system of Moldova. The current national EA framework addresses climate change only superficially. The Law on Environmental Expert Review that focuses on small-scale projects does not stipulate any climate-related provisions, while the new Law on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) that focuses on new developments with potentially significant environmental impacts makes just a few general remarks in this regard. These relate mainly to the need for addressing impacts on the climate during the EIA process (articles 2 and 4), and the need for assessing among others also the baseline climate conditions (article 20). No other provisions on climate and climate change are provided by the law. Most importantly however, even though it addresses climate issues in basic terms, there is no clear guidance on which particular climate issues should be assessed and how to carry the assessment of such issues in the EIA process. The revised European Union’s (EU) EIA Directive 2014/52/EU, effective as of May 2014, requires assessment of climate change impacts, and provides the necessary guidance to systematically integrate climate change into the national EA frameworks. The Directive, compared to the previous one (2011/92/EU), makes clearer reference to the need to identify and assess the effects of new projects on climate, and it requires identification of climate factors that are more likely to be significantly affected. At the screening stage the Directive requires for specific considerations to be given to impacts of the new projects on climate, and their resilience to climate change. The scoping includes clearer requirements for assessing the climate impacts, and the EIA reports are required to provide more detailed information with regard to climate impacts of the new projects and their vulnerability to climate change. The application of the new requirements are expected to result in a more detailed analysis of a larger amount of information at the earlier stages of the EIA process, which will allow for a more accurate climate impact prediction and mitigation. The EIA Directive will need to be fully transposed in the legislation of the Member States by May 2017 and will become legally binding. In order to support the transition towards the new requirements, the European Commission (EC) has prepared comprehensive guiding documents for practitioners, authorities and other stakeholders across the EU that are involved in the EA process. Similar guiding documents have been prepared by the United Kingdom, the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA), and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Furthermore, various International Financial Institutions, in particular the World Bank (WB), have designed their own procedures for assessing climate change impacts and for identifying adaptation measures. It is expected that once the new Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) will be approved (sometimes during 2016), the WB will also prepare specific guidelines to support the practical application. Moldova, as an EU Associated State has committed to harmonize its EA system with the EU requirements. It will, therefore, be extremely useful for the country to carefully consider the new climate requirements of the EIA Directive, as well as the relevant guiding documents, and develop the necessary mechanisms, taking account of the local specificities, for translating these climate-related provisions into the national EA system. The country’s recently approved National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy until 2020 and the Action Plan also call for the need to integrate climate issues into the sectoral policies, including the EA. Similarly, Moldova’s commitment to integrate climate change adaptation principles into sectoral policies made in the national Environmental Strategy supports furthermore this need. Lastly, and perhaps the most important commitment the country has made in this respect is the Intended National Determined Contribution approved at the Paris Conference of Parties 21 in Nov-Dec 2015. All of the above only support the increasing need for integrating climate impacts in the national EA process, so that any climate impacts associated with new developments, or which can affect such developments, are considered at the early planning stages, and allow for relevant prevention, mitigation and adaptation measures be put in place. Altogether, this would strengthen the national system, increase resilience of the national economy to climate change, and would help Moldova positively contribute to the global efforts of addressing climate change.