Law Commons^™

Understanding China’S Need To Focus On Its Renewable Energy Expansion Programme And The Relationship To Its Climate Change Policy, Patricia J. Blazey Ms

patricia j blazey Ms

China is concerned with the need to increased energy production due to ongoing industrial development and an expanding middle class. The government in its 12^th Five Year Plan is focusing on moving to an era of clean energy and advanced energy efficient technology not primarily to address climate change but rather to ensure that its vast energy requirements are procured from other sources rather than continuing to rely on finite sources of energy such as coal, oil and gas.

International Environmental Law As An Art And A Craft, Jae-Hyup Lee

Jae-Hyup Lee

This is a review article about Professor Daniel Bodansky's "The Art and Craft of International Environmental Law." The book provides an accessible, yet comprehensive, overview of international environmental law, a field that has undergone rapid development and has become one of the most important issues of our time. Although there are many treatises and casebooks on this subject, this single source stands out because of its thematic and pragmatic approaches to the problem. Author's characterization of international environmental law as an "art" and a "craft" quite convincing and every reader will enjoy reading this excellent book.

Aviation Emissions : Equity Issues, Nupur Chowdhury

Nupur Chowdhury

Aviation and Climate Change - Challenges on a global and equitable solution.

Climate Change, Forests, And International Law: Redd's Descent Into Irrelevance, Annecoos Wiersema

Annecoos Wiersema

Forestry activities account for over 17% of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. Since 2005, parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change have been negotiating a mechanism known as REDD – Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation – to provide an incentive for developing countries to reduce carbon emissions and limit deforestation at the same time. Many believe this mechanism will not only mitigate climate change but will also provide biodiversity and forests with the hard international law regime that has so far been missing. These commentators assume REDD will develop into this kind of hard international law regime. They …

Cost-Benefit Analysis And The Precautionary Principle: Can They Be Reconciled?, David M. Driesen

David M Driesen

Conventional wisdom teaches us that cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and the precautionary principle conflict. CBA proponents consider precaution incoherent and irrational, while precautionary principle fans see CBA as a threat to environmental protection. Both sides, however, see these two concepts as conflicting. This Article questions the conventional view. It finds no conflict between the precautionary principle, properly understood, and the mere idea of taking costs and benefits into account in choosing environmental standards. The reasoning underlying this conclusion illuminates both concepts. Having revealed the theoretical possibility of precautionary CBA, it uses a case study of the climate disruption issue to begin …

International Trade And Investment Law And Carbon Management Technologies, Shi-Ling Hsu, Nigel Bankes, Anatole Boute, Sarah Mccalla, Steve Charnovitz, Liz Whitsitt, Nicholas Rivers

Shi-Ling Hsu

Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases will require the development of carbon management technologies that are not currently available or that are not currently cost-effective. While market mechanisms such as carbon pricing must play a central role in stimulating the development of these technologies, governmental policy aimed at fostering carbon management technologies and lowering their costs must also play a part. Both types of policies will form part of an optimal greenhouse gas control portfolio.

This article develops a framework of international trade and investment law insofar as they may affect carbon management technologies. While it is commonly perceived that international …

Localizing Climate Change Law, Marianne Dellinger

Myanna Dellinger

Localizing Climate Change Action - abstract

Myanna Dellinger

Waiting for national- or supranational-level actors to take substantively effective action against climate change is like waiting for Godot: unlikely to happen, at least at a substantively early enough point in time. The December 2012 negotiations under the UNFCCC umbrella yet again demonstrated the failure of action at the international level. This article adds new value to existing scholarship by conducting original research into select climate initiatives at the subnational, substate level in order to find out whether it is worth pursuing climate change action at this level instead. The article posits …

Localizing Climate Change Action, Marianne Dellinger

Myanna Dellinger

Localizing Climate Change Action - abstract

Myanna Dellinger

Waiting for national- or supranational-level actors to take substantively effective action against climate change is like waiting for Godot: unlikely to happen, at least at a substantively early enough point in time. The December 2012 negotiations under the UNFCCC umbrella yet again demonstrated the failure of action at the international level. This article adds new value to existing scholarship by conducting original research into select climate initiatives at the subnational, substate level in order to find out whether it is worth pursuing climate change action at this level instead. The article posits …

Cool Lawsuits: Is Climate Change Litigation Dead After Kivalina V. Exxonmobil?, Mark L. Belleville

Mark L. Belleville

Can emitters of greenhouse gases (“GHGs”) ever be held liable for harms caused by climate change? That is the limited question this Article addresses. While many commentators saw the Supreme Court’s 2007 decision in Massachusetts v. EPA (“Mass. v. EPA”) as an indication that such claims may receive favorable review, recent decisions suggest that there may be no theory under which the ExxonMobils of the world can be held liable for the effects of climate change. Specifically, in September 2012, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a native Alaskan village on the tip of a barrier reef, whose …

The Key Stone In The Carbon Tariff Wall: The Alberta Oil Sands And The Legality Of Taxing Imports Based On Their Carbon Footprint, Mark L. Belleville

Mark L. Belleville

Can one nation—consistent with international trade law—tax imports or otherwise treat them differently based on the CO2 emitted in another country during production of the import? This Article analyzes the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), relevant World Trade Organization (WTO) decisions, and the considerable amount of scholarship regarding Border Tax Adjustments (BTAs) and concludes that such treatment of imports is legally permissible. In early 2013, the European Union (E.U.) will vote on a proposed rule that seeks to classify crude oil coming into E.U. refineries based on “life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions,” including CO2 emitted during extraction. Canada, seeking …