Nathan Utterback Sabin Center Summer Intern Last month marked an important development in the UN’s process of identifying climate change goals and establishing an action plan for the near future. Committees of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) met from June 1 through June 11 in Bonn, Germany […]
Environment & Land Use
Jonathan Allen Sabin Center Summer Intern The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) has a simple message: there are still bushels of low hanging fruit to be plucked for states looking to lower their carbon emissions. A 27% reduction in the U.S. power sector emissions rate is possible by […]
Matt Sienkiewicz, recent graduate of Columbia Law School. Flooding is the most common and costly form of nature’s wrath, and its costs are likely to rise as the climate changes and sea levels rise. The federal government has attempted to address flooding through an insurance program aimed at effectively providing relief to […]
Bri Cornish Sabin Center Summer Intern & Rising 2L at Columbia Law School On Monday, June 8th, leaders from small island nations around the South Pacific issued the “People’s Declaration for Climate Justice.” The declaration unites the island nations, which are particularly vulnerable to the calamitous impacts of climate change, against large […]
by Michael Burger It’s almost summer, which means that oil companies, scientists, reporters, extreme sport enthusiasts, affluent retirees with an affinity for cruise lines and others are preparing for their Arctic adventures. As has often been the case, attorneys and policymakers are also shifting attentions to the Far North, where […]
Corporations today face increasing risks from climate change. These risks threaten not only the operations and infrastructure of the corporations, but ultimately their long-term financial soundness as well. For example, as has been noted with respect to the oil and gas industries, refineries often do not have high profit margins […]
Jennifer M. Klein, Esq. Associate Director & Fellow Flooding from Hurricane Katrina constitutes a taking of property without just compensation by the United States government, according to a recent decision from the United States Court of Federal Claims in Saint Bernard Parish Government, et al., v. The United States. Judge […]
By Michael Burger Executive Director This past weekend the Italian coast guard reported saving some 3,700 people at sea on a smuggler’s boat. This was but one boatload of the more 30,000 people who have fled Libya this year and attempted to migrate across the Mediterranean to Italy. An estimated […]