Meredith Wilensky, Associate Director & Fellow Columbia Center for Climate Change Law On October 15, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in response to six petitions requesting review of EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases. This post will address some basic questions to clarify the scope of the question accepted for […]
by Shelley Welton, Deputy Director On Thursday, October 17, 2013, California adopted a policy requiring its utilities to procure a total of over 1300 MW of energy storage capacity by 2020. The California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) approved this mandate over the objections of many in the utility industry who […]
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 Stéphanie Chuffart, Visiting Fellow On September, 19, 2013, Australia’s Climate Commission -a body established to provide independent information about climate science – was abolished by the Government of the newly elected Prime Minister Tony Abbott. The Abbott Government also abolished the federal department and minister that were dedicated to […]
Teresa Parejo Visiting Scholar at the CCCL Associate Professor of Law at Carlos III University (Madrid, Spain) The EU has a clear framework for its climate policy until the year 2020, based on the 20-20-20 targets (20% reduction of GHG emissions from 1990 levels; raising the share of the EU […]
by Fiona Kinniburgh In 2011, France became the first country to ban hydraulic fracturing. Yet controversy over shale gas exploitation there has hardly subsided. Instead, industry pressure has ignited a new legal challenge over the 2011 ban, which natural gas producers allege violates the French constitution. As a consequence of […]
by Shelley Welton, Deputy Director & Fellow In what can only be interpreted as a major victory for California, the Ninth Circuit ruled on Wednesday, September 19 in Rocky Mountain Farmers Union v. Corey that the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) was neither discriminatory nor extraterritorial under the dormant […]
By Stéphanie Chuffart, Visiting Fellow It was announced Tuesday, September 17, 2013, that the case brought by Ecuador before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) regarding a dispute over Colombia’s aerial spraying of toxic herbicides on coca leaf plantations near, at, and across its border with Ecuador, causing damage to […]