GLOBAL LEADERS GATHER AT U.N. CLIMATE AMBITION SUMMIT
Last week, heads of state and business leaders convened in New York City for the United Nation’s (U.N.’s) Climate Ambition Summit. Hosted by U.N. Secretary General António Guterres, the event aimed to build momentum for countries to strengthen climate targets ahead of the COP28 Summit in Dubai (Reuters). The U.N. outlined specific criteria for leaders and entities to be selected to speak on climate issues.
Climate Compliance Versus Action 2023
The Inflation Reduction Act and Federal Buy Clean Initiative have each inspired states and municipalities to regulate embodied carbon (Scope 3) using “Buy Clean” policies and legislation. Reducing embodied carbon has become mainstream, and environmental product declarations (EPDs) have surfaced as the tool. Are EPDs alone enough? Is the compliance timeline sufficient? On February 1, 2023, the Environmental Law Institute hosted a panel of experts that provided an update on Buy Clean policy, green funding, the status of carbon emissions, and a primer on EPDs. Below, we present a transcript of that discussion, which has been edited for style, clarity, and space considerations.
How Local Governments Can Learn From Generation Z
Young people are leading the fight against climate change in the United States and around the world. Thirty-two percent of Gen Zers—more than any other generation—have taken concrete actions to address climate change in the last year. Local governments and officials can work with young leaders in their communities to advance climate action by providing resources and enacting change through ordinances, policies, programs, and infrastructure development. On November 15, 2022, the Environmental Law Institute and the Local Government Environmental Assistance Network hosted a panel of youth climate leaders who shared insights about how to engage youth in climate action and their climate action priorities. This Dialogue presents a transcript of that discussion, which has been edited for style, clarity, and space considerations.
The Acceleration of Climate Creep: The Court Crashes, Congress Surges
This Comment takes up two recent conflicting developments: the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, which was designed to undercut present and future federal climate action, and Congress’ surprising countermove passing climate legislation in the form of the Inflation Reduction Act, which has dramatically accelerated development of the rule of law around climate change in the United States. It suggests that climate creep has taken hold, and that we have entered a new era in the development of climate law that not only limits the ability of the Court to obstruct legal progress, but also creates a firmer foundation for systemwide change.
Democracy Defense as Climate Change Law
In 1990, when the Clean Air Act (CAA) was last substantially amended, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels stood at about 350 parts per million (ppm). Now they are close to 414 ppm, and the U.S. Congress has not amended the CAA despite broad public support for action.The law of democracy and the law of climate change are fundamentally intertwined: how politics and law will be able to adjust to the future turns on who decides the law, and so on the health of our democracy. So far, the prognosis is mixed: a vital protest movement, active state responses, and growing economic pressure for action are balanced against powerful political actors seeking stasis and a sclerotic jurisprudence that limits democratic responsiveness. This Comment discusses the ways inequities in climate change risk and in democratic representation mirror each other, addresses the U.S. Supreme Court’s inconsistent and unhelpful jurisprudence on democracy and agency action and how it tends to reinforce this crisis of democracy, suggests alternate theories of judicial action that would better reinforce democratic responsiveness, and reflects on a broadened conceptual framework for climate law—as a legal framework fundamentally concerned with preserving equity and democracy in the face of climate change, and as a foundation for climate action.
H. Res. 589
would express the need for immediate climate action in response to the report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change entitled “Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate.”
S. Res. 342
would express the need for immediate climate action in response to the report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change entitled “Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate.”
H. Res. 1145
would express the need for bold climate action in response to the release of the United Nations report titled "Global Warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius, an IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty."
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