Law Commons^™

Preparing Clients For Climate Change, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in December 2015 was rightly hailed as a diplomatic triumph. After years of preparation and two weeks of hard bargaining, 195 nations agreed on a framework for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and heading off the worst impacts of climate change. Two implications of the Paris agreement were less heralded:

1. If nations (including the United States) fulfill the voluntary pledges they made, they will embark on a massive transition away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy, including programs of unprecedented magnitude to build renewable energy facilities.
2. Even if all nations do …