Cross-cutting Issues

284 posts

Litigating Enforcement: Germany’s Contested Climate Governance and the New Wave of Climate Litigation

Climate litigation in Germany has achieved another major victory. On November 30, 2023, the Higher Administrative Court Berlin-Brandenburg ruled in DUH and BUND v. Germany that the federal government must adopt an immediate action program (‘Sofortprogramm’) under the Federal Climate Change Act (CCA). The program is intended to ensure compliance […]

Sabin Center’s Network of Peer Reviewers Responds to African Commission’s Call for Comments on Climate Change and Human Rights

Last week, the Sabin Center’s Peer Reviewer Network provided a detailed comment in response to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights’ Call for Comments on the draft study concerning the impact of climate change on human rights in Africa. The comment offers recommendations to strengthen the draft study’s […]

Climate Attribution and the Willow Project: Federal Obligations to Evaluate the Effects of Fossil Fuel Leasing on Endangered Species

In November, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska dismissed two lawsuits filed by environmental organizations and an indigenous Iñupiat group seeking vacatur of the Biden administration’s approval of the Willow oil and gas project. As we have detailed in previous blog posts, the Willow project […]

Executive Actions to Ensure Safe and Responsible Ocean Carbon Dioxide Removal Research in the United States

The Sabin Center published a new report today recommending actions that federal agencies could take to ensure safe and responsible permitting and regulation of ocean carbon dioxide removal (CDR) research in U.S. waters. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has concluded that CDR will be needed, alongside deep emissions cuts, […]

‘La Acción de Cumplimiento’ as a Legal Mechanism to Implement Colombian Climate Change Laws

Colombia accounts for 0.4% of the global greenhouse gas emissions (“GHG”). The agricultural, land use and forestry sectors are the largest sources of GHG emissions in Colombia, representing 59.1% of the national total. By 2030, Colombia aims to reduce its emissions by 51% in all sectors and achieve carbon neutrality […]

Banking Regulators Act in the Face of Headwinds to Address Climate Risk

President Biden’s May 2021 Executive Order on Climate-Related Financial Risk is showing results. While the financial world is still waiting for key climate-related rules from several financial regulators, including the Security Exchange Commission (SEC), there has been some forward progress in recent weeks. The new regulations released by a group […]

Many pedestrians walking on a sidewalk

The Legal Case for Equity in Local Climate Action Planning

Last month, the Fordham Urban Law Journal published a paper I wrote titled The Legal Case for Equity in Local Climate Action Planning. In the last several years, cities’ climate action plans, or CAPs, have increasingly incorporated equity and justice objectives and metrics alongside more traditional greenhouse gas reduction measures […]

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law Submits Amicus Brief on Climate and Human Rights to Inter-American Court

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law Submits Amicus Brief on Climate and Human Rights to Inter-American Court On Friday, November 3, 2023, the Sabin Center submitted an amicus curiae brief to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the matter of the Request for Advisory Opinion on climate law, human […]