Climate Law Blog

By Jacob Elkin and Elza Bouhassira Going back to 1978 and through this month, Congress has acknowledged climate change in a total of 87 enactments, as shown by a database just posted by Columbia’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. The database collects Congress’s references to climate change, along with related terms and concepts like […]

By Maria Antonia Tigre On March 15, 2022, the Full Federal Court of Australia, an intermediate appellate court, unanimously overturned the primary judge’s decision in Sharma and Others v. Minister for the Environment to impose a duty of care on the Minister for the Environment to mitigate climate harm to your people in considering whether […]

This publication is based on a piece drafted for Perry World House and made possible in part by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The views expressed are solely the author’s. Amidst the federal government’s struggle to contain a public health crisis as the U.S. presidential election nears, the House Select Committee […]

The following is testimony submitted by Michael B. Gerrard, Faculty Director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, before the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, Committee on Natural Resources, United States House of Representatives, on April 30, 2019. A video of the hearing is available here.  Thank you, Chairman Lowenthal, Ranking Member Gosar, […]

By Peter Lehner, Managing Attorney, Sustainable Food and Farming, Earthjustice February 2019 Roughly every five years, Congress revises and renews the Farm Bill to fund our nation’s food security, nutrition, and farm conservation programs. The 2018 Farm Bill, which passed with large bipartisan majorities in both chambers, is surprisingly climate-conscious. Its successes will serve as a foundation upon […]

By Philip S. Barnett and Gregory Dotson* Most people think of Congress as a legislative body.  That’s of course understandable.  But our experience has taught us that oversight can be as important as legislation.  Simply by holding hearings, asking questions, and releasing information, Congress can have a major impact on national policy. In fact, oversight […]

by Justin Gundlach Hurricanes like Harvey and Irma do not wipe clean the slate of prior plans, designs, and construction choices in the communities they afflict, but they do require officials, planners, and home and business owners to decide whether and how to alter those plans as they rebuild. As Governor Abbott of Texas said […]

by Justin Gundlach A new working paper from the Sabin Center adds to discussions currently swirling around the prospect of a federal carbon tax. The paper–part of a larger project underway at the Columbia University Center for Global Energy Policy–shines light on a set of practical considerations that other analyses have ignored, namely how existing […]

Last month, we announced the launch of our Climate Deregulation Tracker to monitor efforts undertaken by the Trump administration and Congress to scale back or wholly eliminate federal climate mitigation and adaptation measures. We are pleased to announce that the tracker website has been overhauled since the initial launch to make it easier for users […]

Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) is continuing his campaign for internal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) documents, including new claims from an unnamed whistleblower that NOAA scientists “potentially violat[ed] NOAA’s scientific integrity policies.” Rep. Smith has also now threatened to use an unspecified “compulsory process” to obtain the desired documents (as explained below, this very […]