Law Commons^™

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 …

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 …

Technology Transfer And Dissemination Under The Unfccc: Achievements And New Perspectives, Stéphanie Chuffart

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Response to climate change will critically depend on the cost, performance, and availability of technologies that can lower emissions, mitigate, and adapt to climate change. Technological innovation can furthermore lower the cost of achieving environmental objectives. However, data from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice flag that although issues of technology transfer have been central to the UNFCCC since the negotiation of the Convention, there is still an urgent need for effective environmental technology diffusion. Building upon lessons learned from technology transfer activities under the Clean Development Mechanism and the …

Analysis Of California, Washington, And New York Insurer Climate Risk Surveys For The 2011 Reporting Year, Irene Shulman

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Climate change has the potential to affect the availability and affordability of insurance across most major insurance categories. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) adopted the Insurer Climate Risk Disclosure Survey in 2009, and in February 2012, California, Washington, and New York administered the survey to insurance companies that write in excess of $300 million in premiums annually. This working paper summarizes and analyzes the survey responses that were submitted to California, Washington, and New York in 2012 for the 2011 reporting year. The working paper found that the majority of the 400 survey responses indicated that climate change …

Consideration Of Climate Change In Federal Eiss, 2009-2011, Patrick Woolsey

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

In recent years, climate change has become an increasingly prominent subject of discussion in EISs. A comparison of agency approaches to EIS scope and methodology shows widely varying treatment of climate change impacts. Agencies differ in the methods used to calculate emissions and assess their significance. In addition, the types of indirect impacts addressed and the extent to which the impacts of climate change on the project are included vary.

Livestock And Climate Change – Annotated Bibliography, Julia Christian, Andrew Kirchner, Derek Nelson, Jessica A. Wentz

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Over the past two decades, efforts to address climate change have primarily focused on reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) from fossil fuel combustion. The potential contribution of livestock production to climate change has been largely overlooked. Recent scholarship suggests that activities related to livestock production constitute a significant proportion of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Although estimates of livestock’s contribution to our overall GHG emissions range broadly – from 18% to 51% – there is no question that this impact warrants serious consideration from policy makers.

State Dynamism, Federal Constraints: Possible Constitutional Hurdles To Cross-Border Cap-And-Trade, Shelley Welton

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

This article explores the constitutional viability of expanding domestic, state-run cap-and-trade programs to include Canadian provinces. It examines four constitutional doctrines that might be used to challenge these cross-border collaborations: preemption, the dormant foreign affairs power, the Compact Clause, and the dormant foreign Commerce Clause. Ultimately, it makes the case that while these doctrines are flexible enough that they could be interpreted to prohibit cross-border cap-and-trade, courts would be wise to let these novel and commendable state initiatives proceed.

Measurement, Reporting & Verification Of Chinese Mitigation Commitments, Quiyan Zhao

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

This paper discusses China's new transparency pledge – MRV as it relates to Chinese mitigation commitments – as laid out in the non-legal binding agreement reached at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen on December 18. 2009. Specifically, this paper compares China’s position on MRV with relevant mechanisms and requirements under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Kyoto Protocol, the Bali Action Plan, and the Copenhagen Accord. Furthermore, this paper seeks to answer several questions pertinent to the progress and challenges of China’s MRV regime: Are China’s GHGs emissions measured continuously? Are there review …

Assisted Migration: A Viable Conservation Strategy To Preserve The Biodiversity Of Threatened Island Nations?, Jessica A. Wentz

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Anthropogenic climate change poses a substantial threat to biodiversity. The IPCC estimates that 20-30% of species will face an increased risk of extinction if the average global temperature rises more than 1.5 to 2.5 degrees Celsius. Additional scientific studies indicate that 15-37% of species may become extinct by 2050 due to global warming, based on current emissions trajectories. Domestic and international strategies to manage this threat have traditionally focused on conservation and mitigation. In the last few years, however, policy makers have recognized that near-term climate impacts are inevitable and thus adaptation strategies are required to protect both humans and …

Shopping For State Constitutions: Unequal Gift Clauses As Obstacles To Optimal State Encouragement Of Carbon Sequestration, Nicholas Houpt

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Carbon capture and sequestration technology (CCS) could drastically reduce CO2 emissions from coal-fired power plants, thereby mitigating climate change. CCS, however, faces a difficult barrier to market entry: liability for the technology’s many long-term risks. States would like to alleviate this long-term liability problem to capture CCS’s social benefits. Some state constitutions, however, have provisions called “gift clauses” that prohibit giving aid to private parties. This Note argues that some state constitutions’ gift clauses prevent indemnification of private CCS developers. As this Note’s fifty state survey shows, other state constitutions allow indemnification. This asymmetry in constitutionally-allowed financial encouragement results in …

The Costs Of Carbon: Examining The Competitiveness And International Trade Dimensions Of The Waxman-Markey House Bill, Svetlana German

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

As the United States considers unilateral climate change action, uncertainty exists as to the compatibility of the proposed trade related measures to global warming. This paper considers the rationale behind any trade measures designed to address competitiveness and carbon leakage following the introduction of unilateral climate change legislation (Part I). The paper then assesses the international legality of the proposed measures in the Waxman-Markey Bill under World Trade Organisation (WTO) law (Part II) and proposes alternative mechanisms that may yield economically sound solutions while remaining mindful of equitable principles (Part III).

Addressing The Energy Efficiency Financing Challenge: The Role And Limitations Of A Green Bank, Christopher Angell

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

This paper will address how a federal program to aggregate and potentially guarantee loans made to finance energy efficiency projects can be leveraged to promote best practices on the state and local level for opening up energy efficiency projects to external financing. There are a number of existing financing tools that have started to solve the problem of providing access to capital for efficiency projects, but the programs are all relatively small and have had limited market penetration. One essential, but not exclusive, solution will be to create a federal entity, based on existing green bank proposals, that has the …

Access To Environmentally Sound Technology In The Developing World: A Proposed Alternative To Compulsory Licensing, Neel Maitra

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

In 2008, a report published by McKinsey & Co. predicted that a successful program of action on climate change would require the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 76% by the year 2050. In order to achieve this seemingly daunting target, the report recognized that the transfer of environmentally sound technologies (ESTs) from the developed to the developing world was an urgent necessity. The report cited other sources to acknowledge that such technology transfer was unlikely to be achieved even by a combination of market incentives and funding from developed-world governments.

If market-oriented means, supported by governments, do not suffice …

International Executive Agreements On Climate Change, Hannah Chang

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

The difficulty of ratifying any future climate change agreement through the Article II treaty process calls for an understanding of the scope of the President’s independent power to enter into internationally binding commitments related to climate change. This power is necessarily limited, but as this paper shows, the President’s foreign affairs powers, together with authority derived from existing treaty obligations and federal statutes, provide legal authority for the President to enter executive agreements relating to measurement, reporting, and verification; aviation emissions; cooperative research and development in science and technology; and capacity-building for developing countries.

Towards A Greenhouse Gas Labeling Regime For Food, Travis Annatoyn

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

This paper proposes that the federal government implement greenhouse gas labeling standards for food and food products sold within the United States. A labeling regime of this sort would shift consumer purchasing from “high emission” to “low emission” foods and encourage consumer awareness that food, like any other commodity, has a GHG “price.”

Feeding Climate Change: Federal Food Procurement And Its Effects On Global Warming, Amanda Hungerford

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

This paper examines the technical aspects and policy implications of each of four strategies to effectuate environmentally conscious policies in the federal government's food procurement procedures: a litigation strategy, a rulemaking strategy, a NEPA strategy, and a legislative strategy.

Cash For Clunky Appliances, Anna S. Fleder

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

This paper examines the viability of a “Cash for Appliances” (“CfA”) program that targets home appliances toward the goal of increasing energy efficiency and decreasing greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions. Analyzing an existing CfA effort at the federal level, this paper argues that the case for a federal CfA program is strong, but that the current federal effort falls short of fulfilling its potential. The analysis proceeds in four parts. Part I makes the case for a Cash for Appliances program as a policy tool for promoting energy efficiency. Part II examines existing programs that have done just this – utilized …