The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law posted its Winter/Spring 2020 Semi-Annual Report, which includes a summary of the Center’s key activities between December 2019 and May 2020. 
It is available for download here.
Below are some key highlights from the report:
- In light of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the Sabin Center has partly shifted its focus to how COVID-19 is affecting climate change and policies to deal with it.
- The Sabin Center launched a new Model Laws for Deep Decarbonization in the United States website, providing legal tools needed to transition away from fossil fuels.
- The Renewable Energy Legal Defense Initiative continues to represent community groups and local residents who support renewable energy development in their communities including New York’s first offshore wind farm, a New York-based solar facility and an onshore wind farm in Ohio.
- The Cities Climate Law Initiative’s senior fellow Amy Turner worked with city officials across the U.S., as well as with staff of the Rocky Mountain Institute and the World Resources Institute, on various issues including virtual power purchase agreements and local natural gas bans.
- The Center submitted comments and briefs to numerous agencies, including the EPA and DOE.
- On April 21, the D.C. Circuit of Appeals decided that the EPA acted illegally when it banned scientists with agency grants from serving on its scientific advisory boards. The Environmental Law Clinic and the Sabin Center executive director Michael Burger represented two scientists and partnered with attorneys at Earthjustice to bring the case.
- The Center sponsored/co-sponsored and participated in numerous events including several “Earth Day 50” virtual events.
- Faculty director Michael Gerrard and the Sabin Center were honored with awards from the New York State Bar Association Environment and Energy.
- Executive director Michael Burger received an Amicus Service Award from the International Municipal Lawyers Association.
- The Center published books and papers on a variety of topics. These include:
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- The Role of Lawyers in Decarbonizing Society, by Michael Gerrard, Stanford Law Review Online, April 2020.
- The Law and Science of Climate Change Attribution, by Michael Burger, Jessica Wentz, and Radley Horton, 45 Colum J. Envtl. L57, 2020.
- Legal Tools for Achieving Low Traffic Zones, by Amy Turner, Environmental Law Reporter, April 2020.
- “Corporate Social Responsibility and Climate Change,” by Michael Burger and Jessica Wentz, Corporate Social Responsibility – Sustainable Business: Environmental, Social and Governance Frameworks for the 21stCentury, 3rdEd. (Roger Martella and Rae Lindsay, eds., Wolters Kluwer /International Bar Association ), 2020.
- Direct Air Capture: An Emerging Necessity to Fight Climate Change, by Michael B. Gerrard, ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, March/April 2020.
To learn more about our work, our Climate Law Blog, and numerous media and news items in which Michael Gerrard, Michael Burger and Sabin Center fellows were interviewed, quoted or mentioned, read the report here.
Tiffany is the Communications Associate at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law.
