Cross-cutting Issues

470 posts

Advancements in climate rights in courts around the world

By Maria Antonia Tigre While the United States Supreme Court yesterday delivered a major setback to the EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions in West Virginia. v. EPA, courts in other countries this week have issued decisions that demonstrate that courts worldwide remain an important forum for the potential […]

Defending Renewable Energy Against Local Opposition in Ohio and New York

To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has found that, by 2030, the world needs to be installing four times more wind and solar energy per year than the record-breaking levels set in 2020. This will require an immense mobilization of resources. Reaching the […]

Permitting Seaweed Cultivation for Carbon Sequestration in California: Barriers and Recommendations

By Korey Silverman-Roati Growing interest in using the oceans to enhance removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere has in turn spurred more interest in seaweed cultivation. A recent report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) concluded that the “ocean holds great potential for uptake and longer-term sequestration […]

Guest Post: Climate Litigation in Japan: Citizens’ Attempts for the Coal Phase-Out

By Yumeno Grace Nishikawa, LLM* The Supreme Court of Japan may soon weigh in on a growing field of climate litigation in Japan against coal-fired power plants. On May 6, 2022, the Citizens’ Committee on the Kobe Coal-Fired Power Plant filed an appeal to Japan’s Supreme Court in Citizens’ Committee […]

Removing Carbon Dioxide Through Artificial Upwelling and Downwelling: Legal Challenges and Opportunities

  In a report published last month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that, to keep global average temperatures within 1.5oC above pre-industrial levels, greenhouse gas emissions must reach net zero by mid-century. According to the IPCC, to achieve net zero emissions, carbon dioxide removal (CDR) will be […]

New Sabin Center White Paper Recommends Legal Steps to Help New Jersey Meet GHG Reduction & Environmental Justice Goals

In a new white paper, we analyze New Jersey’s implementation gap in both the climate and justice space and offer some key recommendations to align executive action with the state’s bold promises. The paper’s findings and recommendations are potentially applicable to the many other states who have set climate and justice goals without robustly embedding them into their existing legal and administrative landscapes.

Guest Commentary: Brazil will have first climate litigation trials in the Supreme Court

By Isabela Soares Bicalho, Gabriel Mantelli, Maria Antonia Tigre and Carmem Añon Brasolin On March 30, 2022, the Brazilian Supreme Court, the most important judicial body in the country, will hear seven cases, and all of them are environmental cases. This is an atypical situation in the Brazilian context: having […]