International Environmental Law
Youth Energy at Madrid COP
Report from the UCLA Law delegation
Along with my UCLA Law colleagues Ted Parson, Alex Wang, and Siyi Shen, I’m in Madrid with three intrepid law students for the annual conference of the major international treaty addressing climate change, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. As these conferences go, this iteration was expected to be pretty sleepy. The conference remains …
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CONTINUE READINGWhy Don’t States Implement the Polluter Pays Principle?
An economic analysis suggests why not
Some time ago, I was thinking about the “polluter pays” principle of international environmental law. In this, the source — not its receiving victim — of pollution or other environmental harm should pay for any remediation done and for ending the pollution. Yet despite the principle’s normative appeal, countries (or “states” in the language of …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Policy at Midcentury — Africa
If we’re not careful, African emissions could rival those of China and India today.
If current projections hold and nothing is done to change the trend, Africa could emit as much carbon as the U.S. or even China today. We can’t allow that to happen.
CONTINUE READINGThe US’s Departure from the Paris Climate Agreement is Not Such a Big Deal
The impacts of Pres. Trump’s action will be symbolic, not substantive
Soon after entering office, President Donald Trump promised to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement. He did so yesterday, which was the first day that he may. This is unfortunate but not as great a tragedy as it might appear, at least substantively. This is because both of the Agreement’s content and …
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CONTINUE READINGWhat to Expect from Trump’s Second Term
Basically, a second term would be like Trump’s first term, but worse.
Here we are, one year from Election Day. As of now, there is a significant chance that Trump will be reelected in 2020, though experts disagree on the precise odds. In terms of the environment, what would his second term look like? The President. It’s conceivable that Trump might rethink his policy positions after reelection, …
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CONTINUE READINGSixth International Geoengineering Governance Summer School, 2019
A brief report from a recent Emmett-convened event
As the severity of climate change risks and the inability of current efforts to adequately limit risks become clear, geoengineering technologies – active large-scale environmental interventions to reduce disruptions caused by elevated greenhouse gases – are increasingly receiving attention and generating controversy. These proposals would either remove and sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide or modify the …
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CONTINUE READINGA New UC California-China Institute on Climate Change
China and the United States are the two largest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world, accounting for some 45 percent of global emissions. The world is unlikely to find a solution to climate change without aggressive action from both. With the Trump administration retreating from climate action, U.S. states and cities are pushing to …
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CONTINUE READINGLaunching the California-China Climate Institute
Welcoming a famous new faculty member and a critical new initiative.
I have two exciting announcements to make. The first is that Jerry Brown has accepted an appointment as visiting professor at the law school and the College of Natural Resources (CNR) at Berkeley. That appointment would be exciting enough. But it goes hand in hand with my other news: the public launch of the California-China …
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CONTINUE READINGGreen Growth That Works
New book explores natural capital policy and finance mechanisms from around the world
Since the Industrial Revolution, growth in human numbers and economic activity has dramatically transformed our planet. Rapid economic development has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and raised the standard of living and life expectancies of many more, but these forms of growth have also deeply eroded the natural capital embodied in …
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CONTINUE READINGUncovering the Origins of False Claims in the Solar Geoengineering Discourse
The story behind a recent news article reveals how activist groups—with the media’s help—cause misleading and false assertions to arise, persist, and spread.
Originally posted at Harvard’s Solar Geoengineering Research Program. Much of my work concerns solar geoengineering, a set of proposals to block or reflect a small portion of incoming sunlight in order to reduce global warming. Unfortunately, the discourse is rife with specious, misrepresented, and outright false statements – many of which are consistent with intuition – …
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