Climate Change

Is EPA regulation of carbon dioxide anti-democratic?

There’s been a lot of noise from House Republicans (and others) about how EPA regulation of carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act is somehow an end-run around Congress or anti-democratic.  But it is neither.

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What Happened in Durban?

The outcome in Durban seems to be better than expected, although admittedly that’s partly because expectations were low.  From the official press release: In Durban, governments decided to adopt a universal legal agreement on climate change as soon as possible, but not later than 2015. Work will begin on this immediately under a new group …

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Potential for 2015 roadmap from Durban?

Reuters reports on a potential roadmap for future climate change action that is developing at COP17 in Durban.  Under the EU plan, parties would agree to a road map that would lead to legally binding commitments for GHG emission reductions in 2015.  Up to this point, the head of the U.S. delegation, Jonathan Pershing, had …

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Images from Durban

If you want a flavor of it, here are some images from COP17 (all credits mine):

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California cap-and-trade a topic of interest at Durban

California’s cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gas emissions has gotten some interest here at the climate change negotiations in Durban. At a discussion of Australia’s new carbon pricing program, panelists discussed how Australia considered California’s economic modeling of cap-and-trade during the development of Australia’s system. And a panel on linking between different carbon and offset markets, …

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Jonathan Pershing on climate change

Special post by Nina Jarass, UCLA School of Law LLM student, from Durban So far the US has kept pretty quiet in Durban – at least during the official meetings. Against this background, environmental groups like the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council have urged the Obama administration to show more flexibility on key …

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Fossil of the Day: Canada takes a commanding lead

Canada has taken a commanding lead here in Durban in the Fossil of the Day awards. The award is given daily at the climate change negotiations for the country doing its best to impede, stall or otherwise oppose progress in climate negotiations. The award is judged by 700+ member organizations of Climate Action Network. In …

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China’s Climate Change White Paper

China’s State Council issued a white paper entitled “China’s Policies and Actions for Addressing Climate Change” last week in advance of the climate negotiations in Durban.  As several press reports have already pointed out, the white paper offers little new information, but is rather an effort to gather all of China’s main climate initiatives in …

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The (VERY) Uneasy Case for Nuclear Power

Anyone who is serious about combatting climate change must be serious about considering nuclear power.  Fission generation produces virtually no emissions, and given the difficulties we will have in reducing the world’s carbon footprint, to ignore nuclear power is to my mind irresponsible. But “considering” nuclear power hardly means adopting it.  Nuclear power plants are …

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Local Clean Energy Policies

With cities and counties struggling to emerge from the down economy, clean energy development has been an economic and environmental bright spot. As Berkeley Law and UCLA Law discuss in the 2009 report “In Our Backyard,” California possesses numerous opportunities to deploy solar and wind energy facilities in existing urbanized areas, such as along highways …

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