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SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy

In 2015, the United Nations Member States, including the United States, unanimously approved 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030. In a forthcoming book, leading legal scholars examine each of the SDGs and recommend a suite of government, private-sector, and civil society actions to help the United States achieve these goals. This Article is adapted from Chapter 7 of that book, Governing for Sustainability (John C. Dernbach & Scott E. Schang eds., ELI Press, forthcoming 2023).

In the Clamor About Climate Change, Don't Ignore Natural Capital

Climate change has captured the attention of governments, regulators, international bodies, and the private sector. But climate change is arguably a single facet of a larger concern: the “rapid decline” in the integrity of nature. Climate and other natural systems are interconnected, and recent literature has focused increasingly on this “interdependence of climate, ecosystems, and biodiversity,” spurring a wide variety of organizations to reflect on the broader role nature plays in environmental sustainability.

88 FR 5968

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management proposed reforms to its renewable energy program, including proposals for incremental funding of decommissioning accounts; more flexible geophysical and geotechnical survey submission requirements; streamlined approval of meteorological buoys; revised project verification procedures; reform of the Bureau’s renewable energy auction process; and greater clarity regarding safety requirements.

88 FR 5374

The Office of Management and Budget, on behalf of the Interagency Policy Working Group on Statistics for Environmental-Economic Decisions, announced the availability of a finalized strategic plan on statistics for environmental-economic decisions.

88 FR 2770

FERC proposed to revise its existing regulations governing applications for permits to site electric transmission facilities under §216 of the Federal Power Act, as amended by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021.

88 FR 72

EPA announced a public comment period for the draft document titled, “Biofuels and the Environment: Third Triennial Report to Congress (External Review Draft).”

87 FR 80582

EPA proposed applicable volumes and percentage standards for 2023 through 2025 for cellulosic biofuel, biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel, and total renewable fuel; a second supplemental standard addressing the remand of the 2016 standard-setting rulemaking; and several regulatory changes to the Renewable Fuel Standard program, including regulations governing the generation of qualifying renewable electricity and other modifications intended to improve the program's implementation.

87 FR 78382

DOE published a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking to establish revised energy performance standards for the construction of new federal buildings, including commercial buildings, multifamily high-rise residential buildings, and low-rise residential buildings per the Energy Conservation and Production Act, as amended by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

87 FR 76738

EPA proposed to issue regulations restricting the use of hydrofluorocarbons in specific sectors or subsectors in which they are used, establishing a process for submitting technology transitions petitions, establishing recordkeeping and reporting requirements, and addressing certain other elements related to the effective implementation of the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act; the Agency also seeks advance information on certain topics that may be helpful to developing a future proposed rule, including on restrictions on the use of hydrofluorocarbons for certain other sectors and subsectors and on a third-party auditing program to verify substances used in products.

87 FR 73956

EPA determined that renewable diesel, jet fuel, heating oil, naphtha, and liquefied petroleum gas produced from canola/rapeseed oil via a hydrotreating process all meet the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions reduction threshold of 50% required for advanced biofuels and biomass-based diesel under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program, added these pathways to the list of approved pathways in the RFS regulations, and added a new definition of “canola/rapeseed oil” to the RFS regulations.