Today, the Sabin Center has published a best practices guide for negotiating and drafting Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs), as well as a database of 50 example CBAs from climate-related projects and other types of infrastructure. For background, CBAs are legally binding contracts between developers and host municipalities or community groups […]
Energy
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On August 31, 2023, the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI), as part of their broader Climate Law and Finance Initiative, published two reports analyzing legal and contractual regimes governing decommissioning of offshore oil and gas infrastructure projects and identifying decommissioning-related risks […]
The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School has launched a new tool tracking the implementation of the New York Climate Action Council (CAC)’s recommendations in the Scoping Plan for the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). The CLCPA—New York’s ambitious climate law signed in 2019—called […]
Renewable energy projects have encountered significant opposition in at least 45 states. In addition, at least 228 local laws, ordinances and policies have been enacted in 35 states to restrict renewable energy projects, according to a report, Opposition to Renewable Energy Facilities in the United States, issued on May 31 […]
Last Thursday, May 18, a state appellate court affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of Town of Copake v. New York State Office of Renewable Energy Siting, a lawsuit challenging the state’s March 2021 regulations for siting and permitting major renewable energy facilities. While the appellate court’s decision to uphold the […]
On March 13, 2023, the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) approved a major oil drilling operation on the North Slope of Alaska. The so-called “Willow Project” will be developed by ConocoPhillips and involve the drilling of up to 199 new oil wells, spread across three well pads, along with the […]
On Tuesday, May 9, the Sabin Center and the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment launched Transferred Emissions are Still Emissions: Why Fossil Fuel Asset Sales Need Enhanced Transparency and Carbon Accounting. The increased atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) is driving global climate change on […]
A major bottleneck in the deployment of renewable energy systems is the lack of adequate transmission capacity. According to recent studies cited by the U.S. Department of Energy, the United States will “need to expand transmission systems by 60% by 2030 and may need to triple those systems by 2050” […]