Law Commons^™

Overview On The Lebanese Environmental Governance System: Main Hazards In The Oil And Gaz Sector, Rami Harkous

BAU Journal - Science and Technology

Due to harsh environment and vulnerability of marine ecosystems, many challenges are faced regarding offshore oil and gas activities. Many steps are currently undertaken to overcome such challenges.

As Lebanon is inside the new oil and gas sector in its offshore region, plans should be made to address environmental challenges that may occur in this sector. The Lebanese environmental governance system meets international standards in various aspects but some gaps are addressed to manage such risks that may be encountered with oil and gas activities in the Lebanese offshore. This article ends by a fast run through environmental regulatory authority, …

Review Of Eu’S Carbon Neutral Policy System And Its Enlightenment, Liping Dong, Jingjing Zeng, Jiansheng Qu, Huijuan Pei, Qin Liao, Yanfei Liu, Lina Liu, Bingxue Qin

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Carbon neutrality is a redefinition of human development mode, and a "self-reform" of the production paradigm. It not only affects the economic development of various countries, but also rebuilds the global geopolitical pattern. Since 2060 carbon neutrality target was proposed in September 2020, China has been working hard on exploring how to establish a system of the carbon neutral policy. By considering the system of carbon neutral policy in European Union that is relatively mature, this study comprehensively reviews and analyzes the EU's system of carbon neutral policy from policy framework, key industry measures, R&D deployment support, and fiscal and …

The Shortcomings Of Corporate Accountability In Post-Conflict Colombia: Land, Rivers And Animals, Isabella Ariza Buitrago, Luisa Gomez Betancur

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Although the notion of sustainable peace requires acknowledging the role played by all actors, transitional processes around the world have inadequately addressed or completely ignored the direct and indirect participation of economic actors. In particular, Colombia's transitional justice regime left out corporations entirely. A skillshare between Colombian lawyers and US-based human rights attorneys showed some of the gaps that let corporations continue in impunity for profiting, benefiting from, or directly financing the conflict. Other than harming and deeply fracturing communities, the shortcomings of corporate accountability in post-conflict Colombia also leave land, rivers, and animals without redress. This paper explores some …

Ute Indian Tribe Of The Uintah & Ouray Reservation V. U.S. Dep't Of Interior, Valan Anthos

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah & Ouray Reservation brought 16 claims against federal agencies and the State of Utah for alleged mismanagement of water resources held in trust and for alleged discrimination in water allocation. The United States District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed several of the claims as time-barred and others as lacking a proper statutory basis to create an enforceable trust duty. The remaining claims were transferred to the United States District Court of the District of Utah because the events occurred in Utah and most of the parties reside there.

Eia Directive Procedural Guarantees As Substantive Individual Rights In Il V. Land Nordrhein-Westfalen, Alexis Haddock

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Environmental impact assessments serve as a necessary tool for attaining the goals of the Aarhus Convention and the EIA Directive (2011/92). The Aarhus Convention and EIA Directive aim to guarantee the public’s right to participate in environmental decision-making, to be provided information necessary to effectively participate, and to have access to a procedure to challenge a decision. The ECJ’s recent case IL v. Land Nordrhein-Westfalen articulates the current interpretation of the European Union Member States’ obligations under the EIA Directive to provide individuals standing to challenge impact assessment decisions. This opinion reaffirmed that in cases where the procedural defect did …

Investment Governance In Africa To Support Climate Resilience And Decarbonization, Martin Dietrich Brauch, Brenda Akankunda

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

African nations have only marginally contributed to global warming relative to developed and emerging economies in the Americas, Asia, and Europe. However, the African continent will bear a disproportionate burden of the negative impacts of climate change. Climate-related challenges like flooding, drought, and intense heat waves will increasingly confront the continent at a worsening rate. African nations should not be expected to take the lead in addressing a climate emergency they did not create. The priority for Africa is to receive support and investment to build resilience and adapt to climate impacts.

Primer On International Investment Treaties And Investor-State Dispute Settlement, Columbia Center On Sustainable Investment

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

What is Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)? FDI occurs when an individual or corporation in one country (“home state”) sets up or buys all or a significant part of a company that is incorporated in a different country (“host state”). Companies invest abroad to access land-based resources including mining, more affordable labour for instance in manufacturing, and new markets, among other reasons. Many countries seek to attract FDI in order to realize benefits in the form of tax revenues, technology transfer, jobs, and other economic linkages. The images below illustrate the concept of FDI, as well as some of the sectors …

Handbook For Sdg-Aligned Food Companies: Four Pillar Framework Standards, Nora Mardirossian, GaëLle Espinosa, Rico RincóN, Diana Marcela, Erin O’Dwyer, Abrania Marrero, Regan Plekenpol, Claudia P. Baethgen, Urvi Agarwal, Lisa E. Sachs, Jeffrey D. Sachs

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

The world food system is in crisis. Outright hunger, unhealthy diets and malnutrition occur parallel to food losses and waste. Farming families in poor countries suffer from extreme poverty. And food production is environmentally unsustainable and increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather events caused by climate change. A historic change of direction is needed to bring about a new era of food system sustainability. Our work aims to help companies, investors and other stakeholders move towards a more sustainable food system that is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals.

Transforming the world food system to achieve sustainability in all its dimensions …

Environmental Justice Issues And Sea Level Rise In Frontline Communties Along The Gulf Coast, Karla Michel Lopez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Sea level rise poses a great threat to coastal areas and our way of life. As flooding increases in frequency and intensity across the country, vulnerable populations become a target to its impacts. The U.S. dedicates much research to risk communication and climate change adaptation strategies; however, these coastal areas are home to a large percentage of underserved and underrepresented communities that can be challenging to meaningfully engage. The impacts of short-term sea level rise combined with long-term sea level rise will not only cause flooding, erosion, and intrusion of saltwater into freshwater resources but also increased financial consequences, such …

Apocalypse Ahoy: How The Cruise Industry Boom Is Harming The World’S Oceans And Problems With Enforcing Environmental Regulations, Nicholas J. Sarnelli

Brooklyn Law Review

The global cruise line industry enjoyed an incredible surge in popularity before the coronavirus pandemic. While the industry nearly sank in the wake of the pandemic, cruise lines are poised to continue to enjoy record-breaking profits while continuing to build larger and more opulent ships. This boom exacts a heavy toll on the environment, as cruise ships burn dirty fuel and dump dirty water into the world’s oceans. The current international legal framework for regulating the world’s shipping industry allows companies to effectively select which nation’s environmental laws to submit to, with ships flying under so-called “flags of convenience”. While …

Community Empowerment In Decarbonization: Nepa’S Role, Wyatt G. Sassman

Washington Law Review

This Article addresses a potential tension between two ambitions for the transition to clean energy: reducing regulatory red-tape to quickly build out renewable energy, and leveraging that build-out to empower low-income communities and communities of color. Each ambition carries a different view of communities’ role in decarbonization. To those focused on rapid build-out of renewable energy infrastructure, communities are a potential threat who could slow or derail renewable energy projects through opposition during the regulatory process. To those focused on leveraging the transition to clean energy to advance racial and economic justice, communities are necessary partners in the key decisions …

Environmental Law, Disrupted By Covid-19, Rebecca Bratspies, Vanessa Casado-Pérez, Robin Kundis Craig, Lissa Griffin, Keith Hirokawa, Sarah Krakoff, Katrina Kuh, Jessica Owley, Melissa Powers, Shannon Roesler, Jonathan Rosenbloom, J.B. Ruhl, Erin Ryan, David Takacs

Faculty Scholarship

As we were in the final phases of editing a book on disruption in environmental law, a pandemic swept across the world disrupting daily life and the functioning of society to an extent unprecedented in living memory. The novel coronavirus known as COVID-19 was identified in China in late 2019 and by late February 2020, it had spread to every continent except Antarctica; as of April, 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that over 148 million people had been infected worldwide with over 3 million deaths. Scientists and public health experts have raced to understand the virus—how is it …

High Time For A Change: How The Relationship Between Signatory Countries And The United Nations Conventions Governing Narcotic Drugs Must Adapt To Foster A Global Shift In Cannabis Law, Alexander Clementi

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Since the early 1970’s, the inclusion of cannabis and its byproducts in the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs has mandated a strict prohibition on cultivation and use of the substance, which has led to a largely global practice of criminalization and imprisonment of anyone found to be in its possession. Yet recently, mostly in response to growing public health concerns, countries like Uruguay, Portugal, The Netherlands, Canada, and the United States have enacted laws which seek to decriminalize or even legalize cannabis use and possession. Yet, cannabis remains classified as a Schedule IV narcotic under the Single Convention, …

Transformative Governance Of Biodiversity: Insights For Sustainable Development, J. Visseren-Hamakers Ingrid, Jona Razzaque, Pamela Mcelwee, Esther Turnhout, Eszter Kelemen, Graciela M. Rusch, Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares, Ivis Chan, Michelle Mei Ling Lim, Et Al.

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

While there is much debate on transformative change among academics and policymakers, the discussion on how to govern such change is still in its infancy. This article argues that transformative governance is needed to enable the transformative change necessary for achieving global sustainability goals. Based on a literature review, the article unpacks this concept of transformative governance. It is: integrative, to ensure local solutions also have sustainable impacts elsewhere (across scales, places, issues and sectors); inclusive, to empower those whose interests are currently not being met and represent values embodying transformative change for sustainability; adaptive, enabling learning, experimentation, and reflexivity, …

The Singapore Green Plan 2030: Analysing Its Implications On Law And The Legal Industry In Singapore, Wei Yao, Kenny Chng, Ken Wei Ong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

While sustainability has always been an important policy imperative in Singapore, the advent of the Singapore Green Plan 2030 marks a significant development in this regard. Announced in February 2021, the Green Plan represents a concerted national-level strategic shift towards advancing the sustainability agenda in Singapore. With sustainable development now being a ‘major policy priority’, it is inevitable that the Green Plan will have important legal implications, each of which will be identified and analysed in this paper. More broadly, however, the paper also suggests that the Green Plan will open up valuable opportunities for environmental law to receive greater …

Conceptualising A Role For The Common Law In Environmental Protection In Singapore, Kenny Chng

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In Singapore, the key institutions driving environmental protection are the legislature and the executive. The judiciary’s role in environmental protection has thus far been relatively minor. By drawing upon environmental law theory and comparative analysis of other common law jurisdictions, this paper aims to explore avenues through which the common law can be engaged more meaningfully to further environmental protection in Singapore. A conceptualisation of environmental law as directed at furthering the rule of law by promoting carefully-considered and participatory environmental governance will be suggested as a fruitful way forward for thinking about the role of the common law in …

Federal Land Conservation In Rural Areas, Jessica Owley, Jess Phelps

Brooklyn Law Review

Rural land has an important role to play in environmental protection. This Article examines how the federal government works to further the goals of land conservation in rural areas—ranging from farmland to forests and wetlands; from working landscapes to national parks; and from private to public landownership. We note three approaches. The federal government mandates conservation through laws like the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act. The federal government incentivizes conservation through Farm Bill programs and tax incentives. Finally, the federal government facilitates conservation through noncoercive funding, review, and technical assistance programs under the Farm Bill, the National …

Synching Science And Policy To Address Climate Change In Tribal Communities, John C. Ruple, Heather Tanana

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

Climate change is a global environmental problem, and yet, the adverse impacts of climate change are disproportionately felt in tribal communities. There are 574 federally recognized tribes in the United States. While each tribe is unique and independent, many tribes share a common history of colonization and a connection to the land—legally and culturally. The majority of tribal nations were removed from their traditional homelands and placed on reservations by the federal government. In doing so, the federal government established these reservations as a permanent home for the tribe. But that home is now threatened by climate change.

The article …

Whose Water? Corporatization Of A Common Good, Vanessa Casado-Pérez

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter encourages readers to think of agricultural communities in the era of climate change-induced droughts and population growth similar to when western Pennsylvania’s steel industry collapsed in the 1980s. If water must flow uphill to money, it should not leave a dust bowl behind. While this chapter’s proposals to address the effects on community build on examples of water reallocation where those effects have been addressed, both the just-transition literature and the experiences of some of the towns successfully adapting to abrupt changes in their economic tissue can offer lessons for areas suffering big water losses. In addition, privatization …

Tightening The Legal ‘Net’: The Constitution’S Supremacy Clause Straddle Of The Power Divide, Steven Ferrey

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

This article analyzes Constitutional Supremacy Clause tensions in preempting state law that addresses climate change and the rapid warming of the Planet. Net metering laws, enacted in 80% of U.S. states, are a primary legal mechanism to control and mitigate climate warming. This article analyzes three recent federal court decisions creating a preemptive Supremacy Clause stand-off between federal and state law and presents a detailed state-by-state analysis of which those 80% of states’ laws could be preempted by legal challenge.

If state net metering laws affected only ordinary technologies, this issue would not be front and center with global warming. …

Who Gets The Drought: The Standard Of Causation Necessary In Cases Of Equitable Apportionment, E. Tate Crymes

Mercer Law Review

More than just an amenity, “[a river] is a treasure” noted Justice Holmes in a dispute over the waters of the Delaware River. Water is a unique resource in that it is fluid and can move between borders of sovereign states. When water flows across state boundaries, there are often conflicts between the rights of the powerful upstream state and the vulnerable downstream state. Although water rights laws vary across the United States, most eastern states adopt the principle that the right to water is equal for both states. ...

In the Court’s most recent equitable apportionment decision, Florida II, …

The Case For Corporate Climate Ratings: Nudging Financial Markets, Felix Mormann, Milica Mormann

Faculty Scholarship

Capital markets are cast as both villain and hero in the climate playbill. The trillions of dollars required to combat climate change leave ample room for heroics from the financial sector. For the time being, however, capital continues to flow readily toward fossil fuels and other carbon-intensive industries. Drawing on the results of an empirical study, this Article posits that ratings of corporate climate risk and governance can help overcome pervasive information asymmetries and nudge investors toward more climate-conscious investment choices with welfare-enhancing effects.

In the absence of a meaningful price on carbon, three private ordering initiatives are trying to …

Introduction To Special Section On Climate Change Litigation, Vanessa Casado-Pérez, Emanuela Orlando

Faculty Scholarship

Acknowledging the exponential growth and global dimension of climate litigation, this introductory piece to this Special Section starts by situating this phenomenon in the context of the scholarly debate on polycentric and multi-level climate governance. It highlights both the strategic use of climate litigation as a tool to establish responsibilities and push for a more ambitious mitigation and adaptation agenda, but also as an opportunity to better understand the role of courts in public policy governance. The second part of the article then proceeds to discuss the main findings arising from the various contributions grouped in this section, and concludes …

Conservation Law Center Receives Grants For Internships, James Owsley Boyd

Keep Up With the Latest News from the Law School (blog)

No abstract provided.

Parámetros Para Orientar Procesos Informales De Concertación En Movilidad Urbana Sostenible En Colombia, Erika Castro-Buitrago, Jorge E. Vásquez Santamaría

The Qualitative Report

El artículo propone desde un punto de vista jurídico los parámetros de actuación que pueden orientar los procesos de concertación informal sobre movilidad urbana sostenible entre autoridades y ciudadanos en Colombia, acudiendo a las experiencias de concertación informal de actores ciudadanos. Se empleó una metodología cualitativa, con enfoque sociojurídico y hermenéutica dialógica. La información empírica se recopiló a través de entrevistas semiestructuradas a informantes clave y el análisis de documentos. Los hallazgos mostraron que una buena parte de estos procesos tiene lugar de manera informal y los participantes no poseen directrices que dirijan su éxito. Además, la concertación de proyectos …

Bahr V. Regan, Aspen B. Ward

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In June 2015, the Lake Fire burned through California’s San Bernardino National Forest. Three hundred miles east of the fire, six air quality monitors exceeded NAAQS in Phoenix, Arizona. Arizona’s Department of Environmental Quality petitioned the EPA to exclude those exceedances to avoid stricter regulatory burdens and the need for contingency measures. Applying the Exceptional Events Rule, the EPA permitted the petition to exclude the data therefore allowing Phoenix to successfully demonstrate attainment of the ozone NAAQS by the July 2018 deadline. Petitioners sought review of the EPA’s final decision and were denied their petition for review by the Ninth …

Panel Discussion: Energy Resilience And Deep Decarbonization, Miguel Romero

Lesley K. McAllister Symposium on Climate and Energy Law

No abstract provided.

Panel Discussion: Insights On Electrification And Energy Resilience, Tony Clark

Lesley K. McAllister Symposium on Climate and Energy Law

No abstract provided.

Panel Discussion: Decarbonization With Decarceration: Renewable Rikers And The Transition To Clean Power, Rebecca Bratspies

Lesley K. McAllister Symposium on Climate and Energy Law

No abstract provided.

Panel Discussion: Fact Or Doctrine? Inconsistencies In The Application Of The Dormant Commerce Clause’S Extraterritoriality Principle To Challenges To State Climate Change Prevention Policies, Kelsey Gagnon

Lesley K. McAllister Symposium on Climate and Energy Law

No abstract provided.