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Articles 1 - 30 of 82
Full-Text Articles in Law
Implementing The Inflation Reduction Act: Progress To Date And Risks From A Changing Administration, Romany M. Webb, Martin Lockman, Emma Shumway
Implementing The Inflation Reduction Act: Progress To Date And Risks From A Changing Administration, Romany M. Webb, Martin Lockman, Emma Shumway
Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (“IRA”) is the largest investment in climate change mitigation and adaptation in American history. The IRA appropriates more than $142 billion to carry out activities designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect against the impacts of climate change. This includes up to $37 billion in appropriations for federal loans and loan guarantees, and nearly $105 billion allocated for grants, awards, and other direct spending by federal agencies. In addition, the IRA creates and expands a number of tax credit programs designed to support a broad range of climate-related activities, including investments in clean …
Climate Litigation In The Global South: Mapping Report, Maria Antonia Tigre
Climate Litigation In The Global South: Mapping Report, Maria Antonia Tigre
Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
In recent years, climate litigation has undergone a notable transformation globally, witnessing a surge in cases across diverse jurisdictions. While scholarly interest has predominantly focused on cases from the Global North, attention to litigation originating in the Global South has been more limited. Nonetheless, understanding the distinct legal grounds, remedies sought, and objectives of plaintiffs in the Global South is crucial. This report addresses this gap by providing a comprehensive insight into the current landscape of climate litigation in the Global South.
The report utilizes data from the Sabin Center’s Global Climate Change Litigation databases, which has seen an influx …
International Governance Of Ocean-Based Carbon Dioxide Removal: Recent Developments And Future Directions, Romany M. Webb
International Governance Of Ocean-Based Carbon Dioxide Removal: Recent Developments And Future Directions, Romany M. Webb
Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
With the impacts of climate change intensifying, and progress in reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that cause it continuing to lag, the parties to the Paris Climate Agreement have emphasized the need to accelerate efforts to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, while simultaneously curbing emissions. As the parties have recognized, the ocean is already a major carbon sink, and could play an important role in future carbon dioxide removal (“CDR”) efforts. Scientists have proposed a variety of ocean-based CDR approaches, but most require further research to fully evaluate their efficacy, benefits, and risks. In-ocean testing of the approaches, and …
New York Falling Behind In Implementing Bold Climate Law, Michael B. Gerrard
New York Falling Behind In Implementing Bold Climate Law, Michael B. Gerrard
Faculty Scholarship
In July 2019, shortly after Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), I wrote in an op-ed, “The champagne corks are still popping. But the realization is dawning that implementing the new law will be really, really hard. New York is boldly going where no state has gone before … It will take a great deal of sweat and treasure (no one knows just how much), as well as a continuation of the political will that brought us to this point.”
We still do not know how much sweat and treasure will be required, but …
Legal Issues In Oceanic Transport Of Carbon Dioxide For Sequestration, Carolina Arlota, Michael B. Gerrard, Pria Deanna Mahadevan
Legal Issues In Oceanic Transport Of Carbon Dioxide For Sequestration, Carolina Arlota, Michael B. Gerrard, Pria Deanna Mahadevan
Faculty Scholarship
A number of large facilities intended for the permanent sequestration of carbon dioxide are being developed in the United States. Several of them will be located in Texas and Louisiana on or near the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, making them easily accessible to ships. At the same time, there is substantial interest in Europe in installing equipment to capture carbon dioxide from certain industrial operations before it is emitted into the atmosphere, but currently there are inadequate facilities existing in Europe to sequester much of this carbon dioxide. Therefore, there is interest in the possibility of using ships …
Finance For Zero: Redefining Financial-Sector Action To Achieve Global Climate Goals, Lisa E. Sachs, Nora Mardirossian, Perrine Toledano
Finance For Zero: Redefining Financial-Sector Action To Achieve Global Climate Goals, Lisa E. Sachs, Nora Mardirossian, Perrine Toledano
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
As of 2023, the financial system is woefully misaligned with the world’s climate goals. Six times the current annual level of investment in non-fossil fuel investments is needed between 2023 and 2030 to stay on a 1.5ºC warming pathway. The ratio of clean-energy lending and equity underwriting by banks relative to fossil fuels needs to reach 4 to 1 by 2030, whereas for 1,142 assessed banks, the ratio was between 0.8 and 1 at the end of 2021.
As providers, underwriters, and fiduciaries of trillions of dollars of capital flows annually, financial institutions (FIs) play a critical role in decarbonizing …
Harmonizing Product-Level Ghg Accounting For Steel And Aluminum, John Biberman, Gyunbae Joe, Perrine Toledano
Harmonizing Product-Level Ghg Accounting For Steel And Aluminum, John Biberman, Gyunbae Joe, Perrine Toledano
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting methods for steel and aluminum products have begun converging towards common standards within their respective industries in recent years. However, accounting methods for steel products and aluminum products are still not fully comparable with each other. If emissions are measured and allocated differently for these products, then these accounting differences have the potential to influence materials choices for manufacturers concerned about reducing their reported GHG footprint. Companies could therefore be motivated to make a choice between aluminum and steel according to emissions benefits that materialize from differences in accounting frameworks, but which do not actually exist …
Commentary: Nature-Based Insetting: A Harmful Distraction From Corporate Decarbonization, Nora Mardirossian, Jack Arnold
Commentary: Nature-Based Insetting: A Harmful Distraction From Corporate Decarbonization, Nora Mardirossian, Jack Arnold
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Carbon offsetting is used worldwide on a massive scale, purportedly to mitigate climate change by capturing atmospheric carbon or by increasing or protecting carbon storage. Yet, in recent years, offsetting has been increasingly criticized as a strategy that can harm Indigenous peoples and local communities, exacerbate land inequality, and, paradoxically, worsen the global climate crisis. “Carbon insetting” has emerged as an alternative approach to offsetting that localizes nature-based solutions projects and other greenhouse gas removal activities within company value chains and has been adopted by major global brands such as Nestlé, PepsiCo, and Burberry. This commentary takes a deep dive …
Ghg Accounting Methods In The Aluminum Industry, John Biberman, Perrine Toledano, Rohini Ram Mohan
Ghg Accounting Methods In The Aluminum Industry, John Biberman, Perrine Toledano, Rohini Ram Mohan
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Primary aluminum production is one of the world’s most GHG-intensive industries, and also one where GHG accounting methods have become the most fully developed. GHG reporting for the primary aluminum sector has largely consolidated under the International Aluminium Institute’s (IAI) guidance, although Environment Canada (EC) guidance remains active and Chinese aluminum smelters will soon additionally be required to report their emissions under the China National Development and Reform Commission’s (China NDRC) guidelines, meant to support the development of the Chinese emissions trading system. The IAI method largely follows best GHG accounting practices, but aspects of it can be improved, and …
In California And Europe, A New Dawn For Corporate Climate Disclosure, Magali Delmas, Michael B. Gerrard, Eric Orts
In California And Europe, A New Dawn For Corporate Climate Disclosure, Magali Delmas, Michael B. Gerrard, Eric Orts
Faculty Scholarship
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to finalize a new rule this month to cover required corporate climate disclosures by public-reporting companies. But the bigger news is that California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has announced that he will soon sign into law two climate change disclosure bills passed by the state Legislature.
Net Zero Roadmap For Copper And Nickel, Columbia Center On Sustainable Investment, Carbon Trust, Rmi, Payne Institute For Public Policy
Net Zero Roadmap For Copper And Nickel, Columbia Center On Sustainable Investment, Carbon Trust, Rmi, Payne Institute For Public Policy
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
As we seek to meet the challenges of climate change impacts, many commodities will play an increasing role in decarbonizing economies. There are increasing challenges of addressing the emissions from extraction of these commodities needed to support the zero-carbon transition.
CCSI, in a consortium with Carbon Trust, RMI, and the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines, developed the Net Zero Roadmap to 2050 for Copper and Nickel Value Chains to support the copper and nickel mining sectors in taking collective, coordinated action by providing a clear, approachable, and accepted roadmap for decarbonization.
Our key messages …
Comments On U.S. Funding For Ghg Corporate Reporting Standardization, Columbia Center On Sustainable Investment, Sabin Center For Climate Change Law
Comments On U.S. Funding For Ghg Corporate Reporting Standardization, Columbia Center On Sustainable Investment, Sabin Center For Climate Change Law
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
The Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (“CCSI”) and the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law (“Sabin Center”) are pleased to submit our joint comments on how appropriations made to the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (“IRA”) can best be used to enhance the agency’s efforts to standardize corporate climate commitments, improve transparency around greenhouse gas reductions, and accelerate progress towards decarbonization in the corporate sphere. This Comment focuses on the funding provided to the EPA under Section 60111, on Greenhouse Gas (“GHG”) Reporting.
Conflicts Between Ghg Accounting Methodologies In The Steel Industry, John Biberman, Perrine Toledano, Baihui Lei, Max Lulavy, Rohini Ram Mohan
Conflicts Between Ghg Accounting Methodologies In The Steel Industry, John Biberman, Perrine Toledano, Baihui Lei, Max Lulavy, Rohini Ram Mohan
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Accurate, verifiable, and comparable greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data throughout supply chains in the materials sector are necessary to drive decarbonization. This is particularly the case for the steel supply chain, a major source of GHG emissions with untapped potential for reduction. However, emissions accounting methods used by the steel industry suffer from gaps and misalignment, resulting in significant differences in reported GHG emissions. The result is a patchwork reporting landscape vulnerable to manipulation and miscommunication, generating little actionable data for policymakers, producers, customers, and investors. These shortcomings highlight the need for a harmonized carbon accounting framework for the steel …
How Much Have The Oil Supermajors Contributed To Climate Change?, Jiarui Chen, Perrine Toledano, Martin Dietrich Brauch
How Much Have The Oil Supermajors Contributed To Climate Change?, Jiarui Chen, Perrine Toledano, Martin Dietrich Brauch
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications
In the 40-year period 1980–2019, annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuel combustion, including flaring, increased by more than 80%, and total emissions from those sources represented approximately 83% of anthropogenic CO2 emissions (also including cement production and land-use change) without accounting for sinks. Understanding the carbon footprint of countries and companies along the oil value chain is fundamental to outlining paths to reduced reliance on fossil fuels. However, academic analyses of carbon footprints are limited by the lack of a reliable dataset and carbon accounting method that would allow comparisons across countries and companies.
Potential Tensions Between New York’S Climate Change Laws And Historic Preservation Laws, Michael B. Gerrard, Edward Mctiernan
Potential Tensions Between New York’S Climate Change Laws And Historic Preservation Laws, Michael B. Gerrard, Edward Mctiernan
Faculty Scholarship
For many years, designated historic buildings have been exempt from most energy conservation codes. However, with increased attention to the perils of climate change, some cities – including New York – are adopting strong laws on building energy use that do not have this exemption. Historic preservation laws that have not caught up, and some fire codes, may pose obstacles to the installation of rooftop solar and some other methods to reduce building energy consumption.
The Law And Science Of Climate Change Attribution, Michael Burger, Jessica A. Wentz, Radley Horton
The Law And Science Of Climate Change Attribution, Michael Burger, Jessica A. Wentz, Radley Horton
Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
There is overwhelming scientific agreement that human activities are changing the global climate system and that these changes are already affecting human and natural systems. Significant advances in climate change detection and attribution science – the branch of science that seeks to isolate the effect of human influence on the climate and related earth systems – have continued to clarify the extent to which anthropogenic climate change causes both slow onset changes and extreme events. The spike in deaths and costs associated with extreme events and the prospect for slow onset changes with irreversible impacts has inspired a marked increase …
New York Can Lead World In Fighting Climate Change, Michael B. Gerrard
New York Can Lead World In Fighting Climate Change, Michael B. Gerrard
Faculty Scholarship
New York State now has one of the strongest climate change laws in the world, and if we succeed in implementing it, the state will have demonstrated that it is possible to defeat what may be the greatest threat facing humanity.
Compilation Of Recommendations To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions In New York State, Kate Marsh, Neely Mckee, Jordan Gerow
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 …
Legal Tools For Achieving Low Traffic Zones (Ltzs): Lez, Ulez & Congestion Pricing In The U.S. Law Context, Amy E. Turner
Legal Tools For Achieving Low Traffic Zones (Ltzs): Lez, Ulez & Congestion Pricing In The U.S. Law Context, Amy E. Turner
Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
Cities around the world are looking to reduce greenhouse gas and other emissions from vehicles through the use of low emission zones and congestion pricing. These strategies have been employed to great success abroad, including in central London, where both congestion pricing and fees and restrictions on higheremitting vehicles are in effect. In the U.S. law context, these policy approaches give rise to significant legal issues that have not been well-explored. This Article proposes that these policy approaches be called “Low Traffic Zones” (LTZs), and surveys those legal considerations. The areas of law explored are: (1) potential for preemption of …
The Law And Science Of Climate Change Attribution, Michael Burger, Jessica A. Wentz, Radley Horton
The Law And Science Of Climate Change Attribution, Michael Burger, Jessica A. Wentz, Radley Horton
Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
There is overwhelming scientific agreement that human activities are changing the global climate system and these changes are already affecting human and natural systems. The observational record shows that the planet is getting significantly warmer, with eighteen of the nineteen warmest years on record occurring since 2001. Other observed changes include rising sea levels, ocean warming and acidification, melting sea ice, thawing permafrost, increases in the frequency and severity of extreme events, and a variety of impacts on people, communities, and ecosystems. There are multiple lines of evidence linking these changes to anthropogenic influence on climate.
How Lawyers Can Help Save The Planet, Michael B. Gerrard, John C. Dernbach
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.
Survey Of Greenhouse Gas Considerations In Federal Environmental Impact Statements And Environmental Assessments For Fossil Fuel-Related Projects, 2017-2018, Madeleine Siegel, Alexander Loznak
Survey Of Greenhouse Gas Considerations In Federal Environmental Impact Statements And Environmental Assessments For Fossil Fuel-Related Projects, 2017-2018, Madeleine Siegel, Alexander Loznak
Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
Climate change is already generating enormous costs to the environment and public health both in the United States and around the world. These costs will only escalate over the time with increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), U.S. federal agencies must assess the environmental effects of proposals for major federal projects, plans and programs before deciding if they should proceed. To conduct a meaningful environmental review of proposed projects, federal agencies must carefully consider how these projects contribute to climate change and greenhouse gas emissions – particularly for projects concerning fossil fuel extraction, transport, …
U.S. Climate Change Litigation In The Age Of Trump: Year Two, Dena P. Adler
U.S. Climate Change Litigation In The Age Of Trump: Year Two, Dena P. Adler
Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
More than two and a half years into the Trump Administration, no climate change-related regulatory rollback brought before the courts has yet survived legal challenge. Nevertheless, climate change is one arena where the Trump Administration’s regulatory rollbacks have been both visible and real. The Administration has delayed and initiated the reversal of rules that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from stationary and mobile sources; sought to expedite fossil fuel development, including in previously protected areas; delayed or reversed energy efficiency standards; undermined consideration of climate change in environmental review and other decisionmaking; and hindered adaptation to the impacts of climate …
Determining Climate Responsibility: Government Liability For Hurricane Katrina?, Teresa Chan, Michael Burger, Vincent Colatriano, John Echeverria
Determining Climate Responsibility: Government Liability For Hurricane Katrina?, Teresa Chan, Michael Burger, Vincent Colatriano, John Echeverria
Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
In St. Bernard Parish Government v. United States, Louisiana property owners argued that the U.S. government was liable under takings law for flood damage to their properties caused by Hurricane Katrina and other hurricanes. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit disagreed, however, noting that the government cannot be liable on a takings theory for inaction, and that the government action was not shown to have been the cause of the flooding. On September 6, 2018, the Environmental Law Institute hosted an expert panel to explore this ruling and its potential implications for future litigation in a …
Climate Change And Human Trafficking After The Paris Agreement, Michael Gerrard
Climate Change And Human Trafficking After The Paris Agreement, Michael Gerrard
Faculty Scholarship
At least 21 million people globally are victims of human trafficking, typically involving either sexual exploitation or forced labor. This form of modern-day slavery tends to increase after natural disasters or conflicts where large numbers of people are displaced from their homes and become highly vulnerable. In the decades to come, climate change will very likely lead to a large increase in the number of people who are displaced and thus vulnerable to trafficking. The Paris Climate Agreement of 2015 established objectives to limit global temperature increases, but the voluntary pledges made by nearly every country fall far short of …
Going Negative: The Next Horizon In Climate Engineering Law, Tracy Hester, Michael B. Gerrard
Going Negative: The Next Horizon In Climate Engineering Law, Tracy Hester, Michael B. Gerrard
Faculty Scholarship
As the global community struggles to turn the Paris Agreement’s commitments into meaningful emission reductions and the United States turbulently reverses its climate policies, the potential role of “negative emissions technologies” and other climate engineering approaches is drawing increasingly serious attention. These technologies are engineering on the grandest scale: climate engineering seeks to offset the effects of anthropogenic climate change by either altering the solar radiation reaching the earth’s surface or changing the composition of the atmosphere itself. Specifically, negative emissions technologies would directly remove greenhouse gases (GHGs) from the ambient air and help to remove accumulated atmospheric carbon dioxide …
Sequestering Carbon Dioxide Undersea In The Atlantic: Legal Problems And Solutions, Michael B. Gerrard, Romany M. Webb
Sequestering Carbon Dioxide Undersea In The Atlantic: Legal Problems And Solutions, Michael B. Gerrard, Romany M. Webb
Faculty Scholarship
Reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is vital to mitigate climate change. To date, reduction efforts have primarily focused on minimizing the production of carbon dioxide during electricity generation, transport, and other activities. Going forward, to the extent that carbon dioxide continues to be produced, it will need to be captured before release. The captured carbon dioxide can then be utilized in some fashion or injected into underground geological formations (e.g., depleted oil and gas reserves, deep saline aquifers, or basalt rock reservoirs) where it will hopefully remain permanently sequestered. This injection process is referred to as …
The Legal Basis For Imo Climate Measures, Aoife O'Leary, Jennifer Brown
The Legal Basis For Imo Climate Measures, Aoife O'Leary, Jennifer Brown
Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
This paper investigates the potential legal bases for the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to enact climate measures. It finds that the IMO has broad powers to enact almost any required measure, and quickly via a tacit amendment to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL).
The Price Of Climate Deregulation: Adding Up The Costs And Benefits Of Federal Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards, Nadra Rahman, Jessica A. Wentz
The Price Of Climate Deregulation: Adding Up The Costs And Benefits Of Federal Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards, Nadra Rahman, Jessica A. Wentz
Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
Federal climate regulations are currently under attack, in part due to the perception that these regulations will impose excessive costs on regulated industries and society as a whole. But according to federal projections, the benefits of these regulations would significantly outweigh the costs. We added up the projected economic impacts of major federal rules aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and found that the net benefits could reach nearly $300 billion per year by 2030. The rules will also generate a variety of non-monetized benefits, such as improved public health outcomes and the creation of jobs, as well as climate …
To Negotiate A Carbon Tax: A Rough Map Of Policy Interactions, Tradeoffs, And Risks, Justin Gundlach
To Negotiate A Carbon Tax: A Rough Map Of Policy Interactions, Tradeoffs, And Risks, Justin Gundlach
Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
Sooner or later, the federal government will assign a price to carbon dioxide emissions via legislation. The contents of that legislation will reflect negotiated agreement – built on various political tradeoffs – over a host of policy issues, ranging from taxes to energy efficiency standards. These tradeoffs would implicate not only the scope and price assigned by the carbon pricing policy, but also the policies with which it would interact. This paper anticipates that price will take the form of a carbon tax and describes interactions between that tax and various existing and proposed policies relating to climate change, energy, …