IRA Implementation: The State of Play
It’s not easy to get a handle on IRA implementation, but some agencies are off to a good start.
The Inflation Reduction Act is Biden’s signature climate program. You’d think it would be easy to get an analysis of the government’s funding efforts in its first year. It’s not. This seems like an unforced error to me. In political terms, this seems like a lost opportunity to showcase the government’s achievements; it’s also a disservice to those in the policy community who are tracking implementation. We’ve seen a lot of stories about the impact of...
CONTINUE READINGGovernor Gavin Newsom announces he will sign landmark climate disclosure bills SB 253 and SB 261!
SB 261 first proposed and drafted by CLEE Climate Risk Initiative
Breaking news! Governor Gavin Newsom just announced on stage at New York Climate Week that he will sign both of the landmark greenhouse gas emissions and climate risk disclosure bills, #SB253 (Wiener) and #SB261 (Stern), the later of which was first proposed and then drafted by our Climate Risk Initiative at the Center for Law, Energy and the Environment (CLEE) at Berkeley Law! Once enacted by the Governor, these two bills will set a new national standard for greenhou...
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Passes Landmark Corporate Climate Transparency Bills
SB 253 and SB 261 would be first-in-the-nation laws meant to pull back the curtain on emissions and climate risks.
After a hard-fought battle, the California Legislature passed the second of two nation-leading corporate climate accountability bills yesterday afternoon. The bills, SB 253 and SB 261, are important transparency measures that would, for the first time, allow Californians to meaningfully assess the carbon footprint of thousands of companies—and what those companies plan to do about the climate-related risks they face. What do the bills do? SB 253, authored by ...
CONTINUE READINGCLEE-Proposed Climate Risk Disclosure Legislation Passes CA Legislature
SB 261 results from CLEE report recommendation
The California Legislature passed two path-breaking climate risk disclosure bills this week. Both bills now go to Governor Gavin Newsom's desk where he has until October 14th to sign them. Senate Bill 261 (Stern) requires major corporations to disclose climate change related financial risks, using a framework consistent with that of the Task Force on Climate Financial Disclosures Framework (TCFD). CLEE's Climate Risk Initiative first recommended that California re...
CONTINUE READINGVehicle Regulations on Trial
Three big cases in the D.C. Circuit will determine the fate of Biden’s vehicle regulations.
This week, the D.C. Circuit hears three cases challenging use of federal regulations to push adoption of electric vehicles and to allow California to forge path toward zero-emission cars. If all three cases go badly, the regulatory system would be disabled from playing a role in this area. This would be a huge setback, though there are reasons to think that it would only delay rather than prevent the transition to clean cars. Texas v. EPA In this case, rightwing stat...
CONTINUE READINGUpcoming Regulatory Cases in the Supreme Court
Two pending cases could result in big cuts to agency powers
Three weeks from today, the Supreme Court starts its 2023 Term. There are two blockbuster cases on the docket. In one case, the issue is whether to overrule the Chevron case, which has been foundational to administrative law for the past four decades. In the other, the issue is agency power to sanction violations of the law. Given the Court’s conservative supermajority, there’s a real threat to the power of agencies like EPA to issue regulations and enforce the law...
CONTINUE READINGAmazon Deforestation is Down. Here’s Why.
Elections, new government policies at the national and sub-national level, increased law enforcement, and technological advancements have contributed to climate gains in Brazil, Ecuador and beyond.
For several years, headlines about Amazon deforestation have all been bad. But in 2023 the script has been flipped and the good news keeps on coming. Good news in Brazil where deforestation in the Amazon declined 66.1 percent compared to last August. It’s the lowest level for the month of August since 2018 and it continues a downward trend. For the first eight months of the year, the rate of deforestation is 48 percent lower than the same period in 2022. Good...
CONTINUE READINGHow Major Corporate Fleets Can Drive Responsible and Sustainable EV Battery Supply Chains
New CLEE/Ceres report released today with recommendations for corporate EV fleet managers
The electric vehicle (EV) market is growing rapidly, but with this growth comes public pressure to ensure supply chains for EV batteries are sustainable. The soaring demand for batteries relies heavily on the extraction and refinement of critical minerals, processes that have far-reaching environmental and social impacts. Moreover, the global distribution of these operations leaves them susceptible to geopolitical instability, further complicating the supply chain. ...
CONTINUE READINGBowing to the Inevitable
The Supreme Court declared open season on the nation’s streams and wetlands. New regs are the result.
On August 25, EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers (“the agencies”) issued a joint rule, which modifies their previous rule on federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act in order to conform with the Supreme Court’s Sackett decision. Sackett was a deeply misguided and harmful ruling — but it is nevertheless the law. The agencies’ new rule attempts to sync their existing approach with the Sackett decision while doing no more damage than necessary to the env...
CONTINUE READINGCan we make a map for wastewater innovation?
...or even a guidebook?
During one phase of my misspent youth, I travelled by bicycle in search of adventure and insight. (Hang with me, this relates to environmental management, and I’ll get to that soon.) On one tour, I started in Vietnam, ending up in Pakistan a couple years later, having made some detours and added other means of transport to the mix. When I started riding, I had a guidebook. It was exciting to immerse in culture, language, and so forth, but the guidebook provided empowe...
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