Region: National

Test Your Knowledge of Climate Law

How much do you really know about the law relating to climate change?

How much do you really know about climate law? Expert or novice, this quiz will test your knowledge and maybe help you fill in some gaps.

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There are Piles of Coal in America’s Christmas Stocking

Coal is piling up, unused, at powerplants across the country

Bad children, supposedly, will get only lumps of coal in their stockings. That could be taken as a metaphor for the anti-environmental programs coming down the line, but I have in mind something a bit less metaphorical. According to a recent report, coal-fired power plants have immense piles of coal – 138 million tons, equal …

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Looking Ahead to the Second Trump Administration

Does the IRA have staying power?

This is the seventh in a series of posts.  The first post is here.  The second post is here.  The third post is here.  The fourth post is here.  The fifth post is here.  The sixth post is here. The incoming Trump Administration has, of course, called for ending efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, …

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Broadening the Scope of Climate Policy

How to expand climate policy to new places and new sectors

This is the sixth in a series of posts.  The first post is here.  The second post is here.  The third post is here.  The fourth post is here.  The fifth post is here. The political dynamics of decarbonization that I’ve sketched out are very specific to time, space, and economic sector.  The policy approaches …

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How to Commit to Decarbonization

Feedback effects can lock in decarbonization policies, for better and for worse

This is the fifth in a series of posts.  The first post is here.  The second post is here.  The third post is here.  The fourth post is here.  Decarbonization is a long-term challenge, and it requires commitments to drive the investments required for innovation and deployment of non-fossil-fuel energy sources.  But long-term commitments, which …

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Our Mission: Keeping Hope Alive

If you read Legal Planet, you know the work of the environmental law centers at Berkeley and UCLA is critical. Now is the time to support it.

The Trump Administration is planning a tsunami of anti-environmental actions..  States like California will be the best hope for making progress in the next four years.  Keeping the torch burning — helping California succeed — will be challenging. So will fending off hostile actions from Washington. Our centers at Berkeley and UCLA are at the heart of this work. 

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On Carbon Pricing and Mass Climate Movements

Neither carbon pricing nor a mass climate movement can drive effective climate policy on their own

This is the fourth in a series of posts.  The first post is here.  The second post is here.  The third post is here. What lessons can we draw from this analysis for key climate policy debates?  Here, I will focus on two key lessons, first for carbon pricing, and second for the use of …

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EPA Grants California’s Waivers for Clean Cars and Clean Trucks

By finally granting the Advanced Clean Car II waiver, the agency just undercut Trump’s planned attack on electric vehicles.

EPA just made the incoming Trump Administration’s efforts to stop the move toward clean, zero emission vehicles a whole lot tougher.  And ironically, the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial decision overturning deference to agency actions, Loper Bright v Raimondo, may help California in any litigation over the legitimacy of the waiver request. EPA finally granted California …

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How to Make Climate as Compelling as Egg Prices

While politicians are right to focus on cost of living, it’s dangerously wrong to assume voters rejected climate policies in the 2024 election.

How do we make the climate crisis as compelling to voters as the price of eggs? That’s a question—an existential question—I’ve been asking myself for weeks now. My UCLA Emmett Institute colleagues and I have some ideas that I’ll be sharing over the next weeks and months. We’re hardly alone: Two months after a disheartening …

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Step-by-Step: The Role of Sequencing in Effective Climate Policy

The key to climate policy is to start by supporting investments in new technologies that produce both innovation and political change

This is the third in a series of posts.  The first post is here.  The second post is here. How might sequencing work in climate policy?  And why is it important?  I’ll explore these questions by walking through the most important stage of climate policy – initiating action on climate change. The initial steps of …

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