Climate Change

Bold Climate Rulings Beyond Our Borders

Courts in other Western countries are stepping up to the climate challenge.

The atmosphere for climate litigation in our Supreme Court is decidedly chilly.  Some of its peers in other countries have taken a much different approach.  US lawyers tend to be inward focused, adept at understanding our own legal system but largely unaware of developments elsewhere.  Here, I want to briefly summarize some key rulings. Germany. …

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Aggregating the Harms of Fossil Fuels

They’re even worse than you probably thought.

The decision at the Glasgow climate conference to phase down fossil fuels is an important step forward — and not just because of climate change.  We think of fossil fuels as a source of climate change, but that’s only a one part of the problem. From their extraction to their combustion, everything about them is …

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Making Sense of the US-China Joint Glasgow Declaration

One small step for climate action, one modest leap for US-China relations

Yesterday, China and the US announced a “Joint Glasgow Declaration on Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s” (En/Ch) What to make of it? The short answer is that it only offers slight forward progress on climate action. Increased climate ambition from China and US in the short-term remains the critical metric and in this regard …

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Climate Change in the Law School Curriculum

What role will the subject play in the curriculum of the future?

Someone asked me recently what I thought law schools should be teaching about climate change.  Naturally, my first reaction is that everyone everywhere needs to put climate change at the top of their agenda. As usually happens, when I got past that gut reaction, things got more complicated. There are many important societal issues that …

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The Fuss about Methane

Part 1: Science and weird facts

Methane is getting a lot of attention in climate debates. There was even a “Methane Day” last Tuesday at the climate conference in Glasgow. Several new regulations controlling methane emissions have been adopted recently, including two new rules for the US oil and gas sector announced last week. There’s a new informal international agreement to …

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The Climate Bill inside the Infrastructure Bill

The US takes a major step forward on the path to carbon neutrality.

Late Friday, the House passed Biden’s infrastructure bill. As the Washington Post aptly observed, the bill is the biggest climate legislation to ever move through Congress. It also attracted key support from some Republicans, which was essential to passing it in both houses of Congress. Biden is pushing for an even bigger companion bill, but …

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Is China Doing Enough on Climate Change? COP26 Version

Climate Action Tracker

Chinese leaders have an opportunity to increase ambition and clarify the country’s climate plans

As COP26 kicks off in Glasgow, Scotland this week, the world is confronted with a basic reality. Current national climate pledges fall well-short of the Paris Agreement goal to keep global average temperature increase this century well below 2°C and to pursue efforts to limit temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. The UN’s 2021 …

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A Bad Week for Biden, and for Climate Action

First House progressives, and next conservative Justices, poked a stick in the spokes.

President Biden hoped to go to the international climate summit in Glasgow with momentum behind him. He wanted to reestablish US credibility with concrete progress on climate change. Instead, the ability of the US to take action on climate change is shrouded in doubt.  Biden  suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of members of …

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What do U.S. states do at a COP, anyway?

Newsom’s out, but California and other states continue with robust delegations headed to Scotland

You’ve likely heard that the big annual United Nations climate conference is about to get underway in Glasgow, with nations around the world gathering together to try to advance international climate cooperation.  But it’s not just national representatives who will attend; many subnational jurisdictions, including California and other U.S. states, also send  significant delegations.  Although …

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Show Time: Stark message from the International Energy Agency

As the 26th Climate Conference (COP26) approaches, there is lots of discussion of the recent IPCC report. There will be a flood of other climate reports landing over the next couple of weeks, from international agencies, environmental groups, industry associations, and many others, all timed for maximum attention at the COP. But for a concrete …

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