Columbia Law School’s Center for Climate Change Law (CCCL) has prepared a first draft of a model small-scale solar-siting ordinance. The model ordinance offers a framework that can enable municipalities to implement and enforce the effective and efficient use of solar energy resources. The ordinance would govern all new solar […]
Municipal Activity
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by Michael B. Gerrard This article first appeared on the Asia Society’s blog, ReAsia. Cities have at least four central roles in the fight against climate change. In most countries: 1. Cities write and enforce building codes, which, by determining energy efficiency standards and heating types, help determine greenhouse gas […]
By Marne Sussman Within the past two years, two cities in the U.S. have passed ordinances mandating that existing buildings benchmark their energy usage. Benchmarking requires a building owner to report energy use data which can then be compared to data from buildings of a similar size and function and […]
Led by Ireland’s nation-wide tax on single-use plastic bags implemented in 2002, which lowered the use of plastic bags by more than 90%, several large American municipalities have implemented similar regulations on single-use bags distributed by retail outlets. These regulations seek to reduce waste and, often, generate revenue. The first […]
By Marne Sussman Recently passed legislation in New York State authorizes municipalities to create a PACE, or property assessed clean energy, program using federal grant assistance or federal credit support. In a PACE program a municipality sets up a special clean energy finance district capable of issuing low-interest bonds. Homeowners […]