On June 25, 2013, President Obama delivered a major speech on the topic of climate change. In it he outlined a broad policy agenda aimed at addressing the challenges posed by the changing climate. The agenda, detailed in The President’s Climate Action Plan, relies almost entirely upon executive powers; Congress […]
Adaptation & Resilience
90 posts
Ethan I. Strell, Esq. Associate Director and Fellow Columbia Center for Climate Change Law On Monday November 18, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published a Federal Register Notice setting forth the requirements for the second round of relief funds appropriated by the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act […]
Rating State Hazard Mitigation Plans The Columbia Center for Climate Change Law released a report (and accompanying Excel database) today surveying and ranking all 50 State Hazard Mitigation Plans. The Survey considers to what extent and in what manner climate change related issues are incorporated into existing plans.
Ethan I. Strell, Associate Director & Fellow Columbia Center for Climate Change Law In a subtle but meaningful shift, the environmental impact review process in New York City is beginning to more systematically consider the potential effects of a changing climate on proposed projects, not just the effects that a […]
By Michael B. Gerrard, Director The 44th Pacific Islands Forum has convened in Majuro, Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The theme of the conference is “Marshalling the Pacific Response to the Climate Challenge.” Three of the four island nations most endangered by climate change are represented – RMI, Tuvalu, […]
By Ann Tran, Summer Intern Among the many negative impacts of climate change, rising temperatures are causing more frequent and intense heat waves in numerous regions. As many news outlets recently reported, on the weekend of June 28th, a heat wave struck in the West, breaking various temperature records and […]
by CCCL Intern Congress passed the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act just two months before Sandy scoured the northeast, and “requires rates to rise 25 percent annually on some repeatedly flooded houses, second homes and businesses,” and on properties where the costs imposed by past floods exceed the property’s selling […]
Teresa Parejo Professor of Law Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain) Spain has recently adopted a potentially promising reform to its coastal law to update it in response to climate change threats. However, a close read suggests that the reform contains contradictions that illuminate a less-public minded purpose behind the […]