Law Commons^™

North Africa Can Reduce Europe's Dependence On Russian Gas By Transporting Wasted Gas Through Existing Infrastructure, Mark Davis, Perrine Toledano, Thomas Schorr

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Russia's war against Ukraine is a wake-up call to reduce Europe's dependence on Russian oil, gas, and coal. It is also a defining moment to accelerate the energy transition to a net-zero society with more supply diversity, energy security, and resilience. Europe needs to massively invest in a cleaner energy system. In the short term, this crisis should accelerate our focus on reducing waste gas from flaring, venting, and leaking – some 260 billion cubic meters (BCM) globally or 1.7x that of the European Union's gas imports from Russia. By capturing gas from flaring, venting, and leaking in North Africa, …

Decarbonization Pathways For Paraguay’S Energy Sector, Columbia Center On Sustainable Investment, Quadracci Sustainable Engineering Lab, Centro De Recursos Naturales, Energía Y Desarrollo (Crece)

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

In light of the upcoming renegotiation of Annex C of the Treaty of Itaipú, the Ministry of Finance of Paraguay asked Professor Jeffrey Sachs and his team to revisit the 2013 report, with support from the Development Bank of Latin America (Banco de Desarrollo de América Latina [CAF]) and in partnership with the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).

CCSI, the Quadracci Sustainable Engineering Lab at Columbia University, and the Centro de Recursos Naturales, Energía y Desarrollo (CRECE) authored the report Decarbonization Pathways for Paraguay’s Energy Sector, published by CCSI in November 2021.

The report – available in English …

Legal Pathways To Biden's Climate Goals, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

Achieving President Biden’s goal of net-zero green­house gas emissions by 2050, with interim targets of being halfway there by 2030 and having entirely clean electric­ity by 2035, is possible with law and technologies that already exist or can be readily imagined. In the process, many more jobs would be created than lost, and aspects of the environment beyond climate change would be greatly improved. But it is a massive undertaking.

Compilation Of Recommendations To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions In New York State, Kate Marsh, Neely Mckee, Jordan Gerow

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) was passed by both houses of the New York State legislature and signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo in June 2019. It took effect on January 1, 2020. It requires total statewide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to be 40% below 1990 levels in 2030 and 85% below 1990 levels in 2050, with an aspirational goal of a 100% reduction in 2050. It is one of the strongest climate change laws in the world, and people everywhere are watching its implementation for models of what can be done elsewhere.

The CLCPA establishes …

The Role Of Lawyers In Decarbonizing Society, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

This Essay concerns one current project to turn GHG reduction goals into actual laws that could achieve these goals. The project has four phases: (1) formulating the engineers’ recommendations; (2) identifying the existing laws that would help implement those recommendations, and the new laws that need to be written; (3) drafting the laws; and (4) attempting to persuade lawmakers at the federal, state, and local levels to adopt them. This Essay discusses each phase in turn. As will be shown, we are well into the third phase and starting the fourth, and are in need of volunteer lawyers to help …

Climate Reregulation In A Biden Administration, Michael Burger, Daniel J. Metzger, Hillary Aidun, Susan Biniaz

Faculty Scholarship

On January 20, 2017, Inauguration Day, the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School launched the Climate Deregulation Tracker, the first of what would become numerous online trackers, news reports, academic analyses, and other resources designed to spotlight the Trump administration’s use and abuse of executive authority to pursue its agenda to cut back on government regulations and to promote the extraction and use of fossil fuels. The Climate Deregulation Tracker has had a relatively narrow purpose: to keep tabs on the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the federal government’s climate-related regulations and policies and help inform …

New York Environmental Legislation In 2019, Michael B. Gerrard, Edward Mctiernan

Faculty Scholarship

In 2019, with the Democrats newly in full control of the State Senate, the Assembly and the Governor’s office, New York adopted more environmental legislation than it had in more than a decade. This included a sweeping climate change statute, a new environmental justice article in the Environmental Conservation Law, and a statewide ban on plastic carryout bags. This annual survey reports on these developments and numerous other laws targeting environmental concerns.

How Lawyers Can Help Save The Planet, Michael B. Gerrard, John C. Dernbach

Faculty Scholarship

Scientific reports, coming in a steady stream, are highlighting the urgency of reducing greenhouse gas emissions so as to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Already, hurricanes, coastal and inland flooding, wildfires, heat waves and other extreme weather events are causing severe economic damage and loss of life, and their increasing severity has been attributed to climate change. The decades to come promise to be even worse.

New Climate Law Will Reshape Ny’S Key Sectors, Michael B. Gerrard, Edward Mctiernan

Faculty Scholarship

Deep changes in the way electricity is generated, people and goods move around, and buildings are erected and renovated in New York will be required by the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), which both houses of the state Legislature have passed and Governor Andrew Cuomo has promised to sign.

Green Home Standards: Information And Incentives, James Smith

Scholarly Works

The “green building” movement began in the United States during the 1990s. In its early stages, reformers focused on minimizing adverse environmental impacts from major public, institutional, and commercial buildings. Private-sector organizations developed voluntary standards to promote green building practices, the most prominent being LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). More recently, widespread interest in residential green building has developed. Several organizations having developed voluntary green home standards. A standard promulgated by the federal government, the Energy Star Certified Home, has achieved substantial market success during the past decade. This article describes and assesses the Energy Star Home and …

Un Environment Guide For Energy Efficiency And Renewable Energy Laws, Richard L. Ottinger

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Guide is written as a sequel to the 2007 UN Environment Programme Handbook for Legal Draftsmen on Environmentally Sound Management of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Resources.

This Guide, as the Handbook, is written in response to needs expressed, particularly by energy efficiency and renewable energy project initiators, government officials, energy managers, project developers and particularly developing country energy legal draftsmen, asking for assistance in drafting legislative provisions for promotion and implementation of sound energy efficiency and renewable energy programs.

The Guide describes the key legal issues associated with efficiency and renewable energy resource development, and presents legislative options …

Appliance Efficiency, David R. Hodas

David R. Hodas

Agenda: Seeds Of Change: Responding To Global Change In A Bottom-Up World, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment, University Of Colorado Boulder. School Of Law, Posner Center For International Development, Resolve (Firm), Newmont Mining Corporation

Seeds of Change: Responding to Global Change in a Bottom-Up World (Martz Winter Symposium, February 12-13)

Sponsors: Posner Center for International Development, RESOLVE, Inc., Newmont Mining Corporation, and Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment.

Conference moderators, panelists and speakers included University of Colorado Law School professors Phil Weiser, Sarah Krakoff, Britt Banks, and Lakshman Guruswamy.

This conference is made possible through the generous support of donors who sponsored this year’s Martz Sustainability Symposium (including Newmont Mining Corporation) and those who have invested in our Clyde O. Martz Endowed Fund for Natural Resources Management (including Brian Dolan and Davis Graham and Stubbs LLP). The Martz Natural Resources Management Fund was established in the memory …

Energy Consumption Data: The Key To Improved Energy Efficiency, Alexandra B. Klass, Elizabeth J. Wilson

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

This Article explores recent efforts that federal, state, and local governments have taken to create regulatory frameworks to collect energy consumption data and make it available to consumers and, in some cases, to the public. Part II explains the nature of energy consumption data, the problems with not having such data readily available to consumers and policymakers, and the benefits associated with making it available to a wider range of potential users. Part III explores developing federal, state, and local policies governing energy consumption data, including how policymakers have attempted to address some of the privacy and other concerns associated …

Charting The Course For Energy Efficiency In New York: Lessons From Existing Programs, John Bowie, David Gahl, Nick Martin, Sam Swanson

Environmental Law Program Publications @ Haub Law

This report examines the performance of the existing suite of energy efficiency efforts run by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the state’s investor owned utilities. The latest data shows that through 2014 EEPS program administrators had achieved 79 percent of their to-date savings goals.

The report focuses on the best ways to transition from the EEPS program model to the emerging REV model. Reviewing publicly available information, this analysis takes stock of what the EEPS has achieved and calls for a REV planning and delivery program that builds upon lessons learned from decades of past …

Electricity Sector Adaptation To Heat Waves, Sofia Aivalioti

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Electricity is very important for human settlements and a key accelerator for development and prosperity. As heat waves become more frequent and intense the reliability and efficiency of the electricity systems is threatened. Increased temperatures have adverse effects on electricity generation, transmission, distribution and demand. The high temperatures cause intentional or unintentional brownouts and blackouts, which come at high costs for people and economies. The case studies in this analysis highlight the importance of heat wave impacts to the electricity sector and the need for adaptation. The electricity sector requires a holistic approach for adaptation that comprises technological, behavioral and …

Sustainability As A Means Of Improving Environmental Justice, Patricia E. Salkin, John C. Dernbach, Donald A. Brown

Patricia E. Salkin

This article explains why environmental justice provides much of the foundation for sustainable development, and shows how sustainability can improve our ability to achieve environmental justice. The article first explains a basic but often unrecognized truth about environmental policy: environmental pollution and degradation, sooner or later, harms humans. Both sustainable development and environmental justice respond to this problem, though in somewhat different ways. Sustainable development, however, suggests a broader set of tools to address this problem than are often employed for environmental justice. The article shows how four broad approaches — more and better sustainability options, law for sustainability, visionary …

A Legal Approach To The Improvement Of Energy Efficiency In Europe And The United States: Greening The Existing Building Stock, Teresa -. Parejo

Teresa - Parejo

In large cities buildings are responsible for 40% of energy consumption and 36% of CO2 emissions in the EU, and 70% of energy consumption and 40% of CO2 emissions in the US. Hence, improving the energy performance of buildings is a very cost-effective way to fight against climate change.

Most of the potential for energy savings is in existing buildings so they provide the greatest opportunities and challenges, but the measures adopted until today to improve energy efficiency, despite some innovative proposals, have been insufficient and mainly focused in new buildings. All the actions developed either by the EU and …

President Obama Tackles Climate Change Without Congress, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

With a majority of the House of Representatives hostile to regulatory action on climate change, President Obama announced in his January 2013 State of the Union address, and again shortly thereafter in his second inaugural address, that he would use his existing statutory authority to move on what he called a threat to future generations. The president followed through on June 25 with a detailed action plan.

This article describes the principal elements of The President's Climate Action Plan and the progress so far in implementing it.

Government "Green" Requirements And "Leedigation", Patricia Salkin, Graham Grady, Nicole Mueller, Susan Herendeen

Patricia E. Salkin

No abstract provided.

The Green Development Movement: Smart Growth With A Green Label, Patricia E. Salkin

Patricia E. Salkin

No abstract provided.

Climate Change Action Without Congress, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

Congress has not enacted major environmental legislation since 1990, and no end to the paralysis is in sight. Nonetheless, there is a great deal that the Obama Administration can do with its existing statutory powers to fight climate change.

Federal Executive Actions To Combat Climate Change, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

“I urge this Congress to pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change, like the one John McCain and Joe Lieberman worked on together a few years ago. But if Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will. I will direct my cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy.”
—President Barack Obama State-of-the-Union Message Feb. 12, 2013

In the current partisan atmosphere in Washington, there appears to be …

Legal Issues In Integrated, Multi-Pollutant Planning For Energy And Air Quality, Shawna Ganley, Shelley Welton

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

In the face of persistent air quality problems, as well as emerging concerns such as greenhouse gases and state budgetary constraints, states are looking to new ways to maximize air quality while minimizing costs. The non-profit Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) assists states in air quality management, and has recently proposed a new methodology for states to use in order to take a proactive, forward-thinking approach to optimize air quality. RAP’s proposed Integrated, Multi-Pollutant Planning for Energy and Air Quality (IMPEAQ) fosters long-range planning, multi-pollutant analysis and cost optimization modeling to enable state air quality districts to achieve efficient gains in …

Compilation Of International Authorities Supporting Specific Measures To Combat Climate Change, Fiona Kinniburgh

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

This document is a compilation of international authorities that endorse or require various specific measures to combat climate change. The document comprises a non-exhaustive compilation of extracts from various international agreements, environmental treaties and resolutions / declarations of international organizations, as well as reports from several respected international bodies. While the UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol and decisions of the Conference of the Parties contain the most authoritative and directly applicable obligations regarding climate change, other international conventions, declarations, agreements and charters also give legal support for some of these specific measures.

Red China Going Green: The Emergence And Current Development Of Carbon Emissions Trading In The World's Largest Carbon Emitter, Xiaotang Wang

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

This paper focuses on one of China’s efforts to engage with climate change—the establishment and development of carbon emissions trading schemes (ETSs) in the country. Section II examines the shift from command and control approaches to market mechanisms in China’s climate policy over the past two decades, which primed the domestic scene for the emergence of carbon emissions trading. Section III studies the seven regional ETS pilots due to launch later this year, the success or failure of which will to a large extent determine the future of carbon markets in not only China, but most likely the rest of …

Can We Regulate Our Way To Energy Efficiency? Product Standards As Climate Policy, Noah M. Sachs

Vanderbilt Law Review

Alternative energy supplies get most of the attention in the climate change debate, but reducing energy demand should be the dominant strategy for cutting global greenhouse gas emissions. Dozens of technical studies have concluded that improving the efficiency of automobiles, furnaces, motors, consumer electronics, lighting, air conditioners, and other energy-using products is the cheapest and fastest way to achieve dramatic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.' In fact, avoiding catastrophic global heating largely depends on how fast energy efficient technology can be deployed over the next few decades.

Energy efficiency can be promoted through multiple policies, such as energy taxes, a …

Slides: Appropriate Sustainable Energy Technologies: A Light To The World, Lakshman D. Guruswamy, Jason B. Aamodt, Blake Feamster

2012 Energy Justice Conference and Technology Exposition (September 17-18)

Presenter: Jason Aamodt, Attorney; Adjunct Professor, University of Tulsa

15 slides

Slides: Unido: Partner For Prosperity, Kandeh K. Yumkella

2012 Energy Justice Conference and Technology Exposition (September 17-18)

Presenter: Dr. Kandeh Yumkella, Chairman, UN Energy; Director General, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)

16 slides

New York Climate Change Report Card: Improvement Needed For More Effective Leadership And Overall Coordination With Local Government, Patricia E. Salkin

Patricia E. Salkin

New York ranks eight out of the 50 states in terms of carbon emissions. While the State government is just beginning to enact meaningful programs and incentives to encourage municipal policies and actions that will reduce the impact of local decisions on our carbon footprint, a number of local governments across the State have already been at work developing and adopting "greening" strategies, policies and regulations. While the New York State Bar Association has released for comment a report of its Task Force on Global Warming which documents an impressive two-dozen current state-level laws and programs on climate change, the …