Law Commons^™

Pricing, Decarbonization, And Green New Deals, David M. Driesen, Michael A. Mehling

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

This Article evaluates an emerging literature claiming that carbon pricing (emissions trading or carbon taxes) has not performed very well and therefore cannot be the basis for the sort of transformative change now required to address the climate crisis. This is an important claim, as carbon pricing has been viewed as being at the heart of global efforts to address one of our most important contemporary problems.

We provide theoretical and empirical support for these critics’ claim that carbon pricing by itself cannot catalyze the technological transformation now required, and that other approaches have done and will likely do better. …

Climate And Transportation Policy Sequencing In California And Quebec, Sonya Ziaja, Mark Purdon, Julie Witcover, Colin Murphy, Mark Winfield, Genevieve Giuliano, Charles Séguin, Colleen Kaiser, Jacques Papy, Lewis Fulton

All Faculty Scholarship

We compare flexible low-carbon regulations in the transportation sector and their interaction and sequencing with greenhouse gas emissions trading systems in California and Quebec. As momentum builds for greater climate action, it is necessary to better understand how carbon markets and other low-carbon transportation policies influence one another. First, we demonstrate that emissions trading between California and Quebec has been asymmetric, with linking having little influence on carbon prices from California's perspective but leading to a considerable cost reduction from the point of view of Quebec. Second, we present evidence that Quebec has replicated many of California's low-carbon transportation policies …

Reanimating The Foreign Compacts Clause, Thomas Liefke Eaton

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

On October 23, 2019, the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a complaint against the State of California “for unlawfully entering a cap and trade agreement with the Canadian Providence of Quebec.” In many ways, the complaint reflects a conventional disagreement between states and the federal government over the contours of federalism, but the complaint’s second cause of action, alleging a violation of the “Compacts Clause,” Article I, section 10(3) of the United States Constitution, is unique. The body of law and scholarship surrounding the Compacts Clause is often guesswork at best, for jurists and scholars alike, because typically …

A Guide To Emissions Trading Under The Western Climate Initiative, Chios Carmody

Canada-United States Law Journal

This Guide presents an overview of the cap-and-trade system of carbon emissions trading created and adhered to under the Western Climate Initiative (WCI). This Guide is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 provides an overview of a cap-and-trade system of emissions permits. Chapter 2 explains the constitutional background to cap-and-trade schemes in the United States and Canada. Chapter 3 provides an overview of the linked system and a summary of its principal features in each WCI cap-and-trade partner jurisdiction (California, Quebec, Ontario). Chapter 4 explains how emission allowances are traded under the WCI and includes the results of a survey …

The Future Of Environmental Law And Complexities Of Scale: Federalism Experiments With Climate Change Under The Clean Air Act, Hari M. Osofsky

Hari Osofsky

Since its inception, the Clean Air Act ("CAA") has served as an experiment in environmental governance models. As importantly, the CAA has had to be flexible in responding to our evolving understandings of environmental problems. Whether through amendments or new regulatory regimes under existing provisions, the statute has served as a key mechanism in the U.S. federal government's efforts to respond to complex environmental challenges. This Article focuses on the CAA's efforts to grapple with complexities of regulatory scale as an illustration of the new directions in environmental law that are the focus of this symposium. Air moves around over …

California Climate Change And The Constitution, Christopher H. Schroeder, Neil S. Siegel, Erwin Chemerinsky, Brigham Daniels, Brettny Hardy, Tim Profeta

Erwin Chemerinsky

While the United States has of yet not passed meaningful legislation that addresses climate change, several U.S. states are taking steps to reduce the carbon footprints of their industries and citizens. As it has in the past, California is leading the way. But are its actions legal?

Carbon Credits As Eu Like It: Property, Immunity, Tragico2medy?, Kelvin F. K. Low, Jolene Lin

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

While there have been many legal studies of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), none seem to have considered the EU ETS from the perspective of private law, particularly the private law issues that stem from the ambiguous legal nature of the 'carbon credit'. Such ambiguity translates into regulatory uncertainty and business risks of the sort that occurred in Armstrong DLW GmbH v Winnington Networks Ltd [2013] Ch 156, an English case involving fraud and 'stolen' European Union Allowances (EUAs). From an environmental law and policy perspective, uncertainty does not bode well for the EU ETS's regulatory effectiveness …

Courts Cap The "Trade": Regulation Of Competitive Markets When Courts Overturn State And Federal Cap-And-Trade Regulation, Steven Ferrey

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Let Them Eat Carbon: The End Of The Kyoto Protocol, Aiten J. Musaeva Mcpherson

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Putting A Price On Carbon: The Metaphor, David M. Driesen

David M Driesen

This Essay analyzes the characterization of both pollution taxes and so-called cap-and-trade programs addressing greenhouse gas emissions as policies that “put a price on carbon,” a characterization that has come to dominate both policy discussion and much modern scholarship on environmental instrument choice. It shows that the rationale for characterizing cap-and-trade— a quantitative rather than a pricing mechanism— as putting a price on carbon suggests that analysts should likewise treat traditional regulation as a mechanism putting a price on carbon. Treating “market-based mechanisms” as uniquely putting a price on carbon reflects and perpetuates a tendency to see markets and government …

Could A State-Level Carbon Tax Work In The Intermountain West?, Adele C. Morris

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

With the U.S. federal government stuck in partisan gridlock, attention increasingly turns to states and localities for innovative climate solutions. This talk will explore the option for Intermountain West states to tax carbon, including how they could establish a tax base, set price signals, and manage revenue. The presentation will pay special attention to the option of “swapping” a carbon tax for revenue sources that more negatively impact economic growth, such as taxes on business activity. This research will explore the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches and consider the issue of the burdens on lower income households and certain …

Systems Of Carbon Trading, Dr. Bruno Zeller

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Climate Change And International Trade: Conflict Or Opportunity?, Joshua Meltzer

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

How can international trade negotiations provide incentives or limit progress on domestic and international climate change policy? This presentation will explore how trade negotiations can reduce trade barriers to low carbon produced goods, the implications of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and free trade agreements, and how pricing carbon to reduce greenhouse gas emissions can lead to international competitiveness and carbon leakage concerns. This presentation will consider the implications of the November 6th election on short and long-term climate policy initiatives.

Closing Pandora's Box : A Case For Carbon Market Integrity After The Global Financial Crisis : Conditioning Ownership Of The Right To Emit Greenhouse Gases In An Australian Emissions Trading Scheme, Damien L. Lockie

Damien Lockie

This thesis argues the credibility of an Australia ETS depends on design rules that create a fair and orderly carbon market. Most importantly, a fair and orderly market would be one that enshrines a level playing field and is not susceptible to the problems experienced in operational emissions trading schemes and also in financial markets leading up to and throughout the Global Financial Crisis (GFC).

The Lurking Costs Of Green Technology Metals In A Global Market, Winfield J. Wilson

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

A Legal View On Border Tax Adjustments And Climate Change: A Latin American Perspective, Valentina Durán Medina, Rodrigo Polanco Lazo

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Hazy Skies In America’S Future?: The Battle Between “Free Industry” And Clean Air, Oded Cedar

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Climate Change, Intellectual Property, And The Scope Of Human Rights Obligations, Kavita Kapur

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

The Singapore Workaround: Providing A “Greenprint” For A Unfccc Party Reclassification, P. Cal Trepagnier

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

National Security In The 21st Century: How The National Security Council Can Solve The President’S Climate Change Problem, Arija Flowers

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Options For Blue Carbon Within The International Climate Change Framework, Gabriel Grimsditch

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Is Redd Accounting Myopic?: Why Reducing Emissions From Deforestation And Forest Degradation Programs Should Recognize And Include Other Ecosystems And Services Beyond Co 2 Sequestration, Paulo A. Lopes

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Climate Change: Government, Private Property, And Individual Action, Paul Babie

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Due Process Rights In The Carbon Markets, Lisa Hodes Rosen, Adrienne Bossi

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Carbon Reduction Projects And The Concept Of Additionality, Brian Joseph Mcfarland

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Future Force Sustainability: Department Of Defense And Energy Efficiency In A Changing Climate, Laura Horton

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

Part I of this discussion will begin with background information on the United States military’s contribution to GHG emissions and climate change. It will also look at some examples of exemptions the military has received from federal environmental laws, particularly during times of conflict. Next, it will focus on energy efficiency standards and exemptions, some of which the military has stated it will comply with voluntarily. Part II of this discussion will then survey some of the ways the military has begun to meet energy efficiency standards, including renewable fuel programs and solar installations. That Part will look at these …

Addressing The Significance Of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Under Ceqa: California’S Search For Regulatory Certainty In An Uncertain World, Alexander G. Crockett

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

This Article explores the efforts of California’s air agencies in addressing how to determine the significance of a project’s greenhouse gas emissions under CEQA, focusing on the recent guidance adopted by three of California’s largest regional air-quality agencies – the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. It also addresses work done by the California Air Pollution Control Officers Association and the California Air Resources Board (ARB), which laid the foundations for these agencies’ actions. In Section II, the Article provides a brief review of …

Legal Nature Of The Traded Units Under The Emissions Trading Systems And Its Implication To The Relationship Between Emissions Trading And The Wto, Wen-Chen Shih Dr

Wen-chen Shih Dr

With regard to the relationship between emissions trading and the WTO, most existing literature focuses on the emissions trading system under the Kyoto Protocol without analysing existing or forthcoming domestic or regional emissions trading systems. Furthermore, these analyses also did not differentiate between different types of emissions trading systems, in particular the possible different legal nature of various types of the ‘units’ that are being traded under different types of emissions trading system. Is this an over-simplified approach in terms of analysing the relationship between emissions trading and the WTO? This is the main research question of this article. By …

Climate Change: A New Realm Of Tort Litigation, And How To Recover When The Litigation Heats Up, Lauren Case

Santa Clara Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Fight For Clean Technology Funds: Who Should Control The Future Of Low-Carbon Technology In The Developing World, William Gardner

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

As part of a multilateral climate change treaty, the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have discussed establishing an international aid mechanism, or fund, to support low-carbon energy generation and energy efficiency projects in developing countries. The selection of a fund administrator has been particularly contentious. Many developed countries believe that, rather than creating a new fund, the COP should use an already established one-the World Bank's Clean Technology Fund (CTF)-and select the World Bank as fund administrator.H owever, many developing countries believe the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC should create a …