Inside Climate News

SEPTEMBER 21, 2024

By Georgina Gustin Some of the country’s biggest food companies are making a small dent in their greenhouse gas emissions, but most are failing to make substantial and critical reductions, even as consumers and government regulators are pushing harder for them to do so.

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Law Columbia

JANUARY 31, 2025

Most climate action today rightly focuses on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Sabin Center has previously discussed the regulation of OAE here and here. A new Sabin Center report continues the conversation by focusing on the regulation of OAE in Washington State. Each law targets a specific environmental issue.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

DECEMBER 15, 2022

The EPA is getting ready to finalize a critical regulation limiting emissions of smog-forming nitrogen oxide (NO X ) and soot (or particulate matter, PM 2.5 ) from new heavy-duty trucks. This is the first time EPA has sought to limit emissions in over two decades, and it is long overdue. EPA has proposed three different early credit programs.

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Legal Planet

NOVEMBER 15, 2021

Our system of environmental regulation divides up regulation of a single substance based on each of its environmental impacts. At the current government estimate of the social cost of carbon, that comes to $150 billion in long-term damage each year. Thus, the regulatory system sees the “trees,” not the “forest.” Consider coal.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

JULY 1, 2022

That’s because the case, which was about the nature and scope of EPA authority in regulating carbon emissions from existing power plants, turned on a rule that does not exist. Because while this decision does still recognize EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, it simultaneously sharply curtails the agency’s ability to do so.

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Enviromental Defense

JANUARY 9, 2025

There are undoubtedly those in Alberta who are thrilled with the governments recent announcement on buffer zones and viewscapes for renewable energy development. According to the Alberta Energy Regulator, there are 482,495 wells in the province. But can they?

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Union of Concerned Scientists

JULY 9, 2024

If governments bypass or undermine science and public comments in policy making, our health could be in jeopardy from increased pollution, cases of foodborne illnesses, politically-driven medicine approvals or disapprovals, and more. When facilities emit less pollution, their regulations require less specific record-keeping and monitoring.

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Legal Planet

DECEMBER 16, 2021

Energy use accounts for the bulk of greenhouse gas emissions. The resulting government policies are forcing radical change on the energy system of a kind not seen in a century or more. At the center of traditional utility regulation was a system of price control intended to protect consumers from monopoly prices.

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Legal Planet

OCTOBER 26, 2022

The scoping process has been key to California’s success in cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The process requires the government to assess past progress, project future emissions, and come up with a strategy to meet its climate goals. b) The range of projected air pollution reductions that result from the measure.

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Legal Planet

MAY 19, 2023

County of Monterey –a major case involving the authority of California local governments to limit oil and gas development within their borders. County of Monterey case raises important and difficult questions for both the justices and the Executive Branch of California state government.

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Law and Environment

OCTOBER 26, 2023

Yesterday, Massachusetts Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer issued a report detailing how “to implement the Healey-Driscoll Administration’s whole-of-government approach to addressing the climate crisis.” Publish an annual report card on the Commonwealth’s progress to achieve mandated greenhouse gas emission reductions.

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Legal Planet

AUGUST 26, 2021

The Supreme Court interpreted the statute to place an absolute priority on preserving endangered species, regardless of the impact on the economy or other government goals. In an opinion by Justice Stevens, the Court held that the threat of sea level rise gave a state government standing to bring the suit. This case is a century older.

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Legal Planet

AUGUST 22, 2023

States and local air quality regulators have the legal authority to set particulate matter (PM), ozone, and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions standards and adopt regulations for these pollutants when they are already in attainment of the national ambient air quality standards ( NAAQS ) set by the U.S.

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Legal Planet

JULY 17, 2023

No one really thought that Mendelsohn could win when he petitioned EPA to regulate greenhouse gases from new cars and trucks. In the end, however, they came on board, along with several state governments. The five students decided to take on a project about railroad rate regulation and recycling.

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Legal Planet

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

The federal government is now supporting that role with federal funding for states. A key provision (IRA § 60114) appropriates $250 million to support emission reduction planning by state governments. I predict that we’ll see a wave of legislation and agency regulation at the state level, sparked by federal legislation.

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Law Columbia

JANUARY 25, 2022

The case concerns the scope of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from existing fossil fuel power plants under Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act (CAA).

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Legal Planet

JUNE 4, 2021

its district, appellate , and supreme courts decided in favor of Urgenda, an upstart environmental organization, ordering the government to more aggressively reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In the face of disappointing legislation and regulation, activists have increasingly turned to courts in the last fifteen years.

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Enviromental Defense

APRIL 3, 2023

The Halton Hills Generating Station in Halton Hills, Ontario (Photo by Ian Willms) The “Clean Energy Advantage” In the budget, the government boasts about Ontario’s “clean energy advantage” even though it is actively whittling away at it. The current government acts like it’s somehow responsible for this feat.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

OCTOBER 13, 2022

This new regulation would apply to delivery vans, big rigs, box trucks, and buses. The Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) rule has the potential to significantly reduce climate-warming greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as well as harmful air pollutants like fine particulates (PM2.5) Regulate more tractor trucks, including the smaller fleets.

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Law Columbia

JUNE 27, 2023

Direct pay – which is already in effect as of January 1, 2023 – allows tax-exempt entities, including local governments, to claim the value of certain clean energy and other tax credits as a cash payment, rather than as an offset to tax liability that they do not have. Written comments are due on August 14, 2023.

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Manning Law

NOVEMBER 20, 2020

Yesterday, the Canadian Government introduced legislation, the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act , to achieve Canada’s goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The Act will do the following: Legally bind the Government to a process to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

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Clean Energy Law

MARCH 15, 2024

Regulated Entities Under the Guidelines, the top 180 companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the top 50 companies on its Science and Technology Innovation Board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange must publish SDRs annually, within four months of the end of their fiscal year.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

APRIL 26, 2023

This year, many on the far-right are attempting to rebrand Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing as “woke capitalism.” In fact, the Board of Directors’ response states that “reducing Chevron’s absolute Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is not in stockholders’ interests, nor should it be Chevron’s responsibility.”

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Circle of Blue

APRIL 14, 2022

A bare-chested old man lies in the emergency room of a government hospital in northeast Nigeria. In the pre-colonial era, mechanisms such as the traditional administrative system which regulated grazing activities and demarcated cattle migratory routes, known as the burti, were key to establishing clear boundaries between farmers and herders.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

APRIL 19, 2023

In late April, California air regulators are poised to pass one of the most meaningful regulations to reduce pollution from commercial trucks, vans, and buses. The Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) rule, which I’ve blogged about in detail before, will phase out fossil-fueled trucks over the next several decades. There are more than 1.8

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Legal Planet

JULY 29, 2021

They will be working alongside our faculty director (formerly faculty co-director) Ted Parson—an accomplished scholar of environmental governance—as well as me and my colleague Cara Horowitz, shaping the strategic direction of the Emmett Institute. Wang is a leading expert on environmental governance and the law and politics of China.

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Law Columbia

MARCH 12, 2025

Vanuatu and the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) asserted that these legal consequences are governed by the general law of State responsibility. Micronesia , Ghana , and Saint Lucia also emphasized that cessation and non-repetition would involve reducing greenhouse gas emissions, cutting fossil fuel subsidies, and phasing out fossil fuels.

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Legal Planet

FEBRUARY 20, 2024

While federal regulators consider changes to their pipeline regulations, the California Legislature should act to keep Californians safe. You might be familiar with carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. There are some federal regulations, but they leave much to be desired.

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Carbon Dioxide Fossil Fuels Regulations Atmosphere 162

Law Columbia

MARCH 10, 2025

The UNGA requested the ICJ render an opinion on the following questions: (a) What are the obligations of States under international law to ensure the protection of the climate system and other parts of the environment from anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gasses (GHG) for States and for present and future generations? (b)

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Law Columbia

JUNE 21, 2024

Glen Oaks – a 2022 lawsuit brought by a group of cooperative apartment owners – sought to invalidate Local Law 97 of 2019 , New York City’s building performance standard aimed at reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the City’s largest buildings.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

JANUARY 30, 2023

ExxonMobil’s reduction pledges do not take Scope 3 emissions into account, and the company’s leadership takes issue with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol’s approach to measuring emissions, as described below. Studies show Scope 3 emissions account for roughly 85% of oil and gas emissions. 2023 will be a crucial juncture in a long, bumpy trip.

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Law Columbia

MARCH 18, 2025

Achieving global climate goals will require rapid and dramatic greenhouse gas emissions reductions, along with the removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Previous reports have also analyzed state authority to regulate OAE , and looked at state regulation of seaweed cultivation in California and OAE in Washington.

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The Energy Law

FEBRUARY 10, 2022

Within the first six weeks of 2022, both state and federal governments have taken steps toward offshore wind energy development off the coast of Louisiana. The Plan offers strategies and actions aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Louisiana. In addition to Action 1.3,

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Union of Concerned Scientists

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is considering amendments to its Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) regulation, but indicated they have no plans to address the problems caused by counter-productive subsidies for manure biomethane. California’s LCFS is causing problems for other states and the federal government.

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Law and Environment

JULY 1, 2022

EPA on Thursday, June 30, 2022, curbing the power of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants across the country. The Court determined that regulating the country’s power grid and phasing out coal presented a major question. The Supreme Court decided West Virginia v.

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Legal Planet

JULY 12, 2023

As I outlined here , Montana state law prohibits the consideration of greenhouse gas emissions or climate impacts–– inside and outside the state’s borders––when reviewing projects and approving permits. This now-infamous climate prohibition has been called a “limitation” on the Montana Environmental Policy Act, or MEPA.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

FEBRUARY 1, 2024

ExxonMobil cited IPAA’s lack of support for policies related to climate change or reducing carbon emissions, as well as its opposition to strong methane regulations, as reasons for ending its membership (IPAA was also classified as “misaligned” two years ago in the company’s inaugural lobbying report, but the company maintained its membership).

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