On June 13, 2022, Chile published its Climate Change Framework Law (“the Climate Act”). The Climate Act includes a binding goal of net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest, following the recommendations of the IPCC. It creates regulatory instruments, a new crosscutting governance, and opportunities for public participation. The Climate Act also creates important challenges and opportunities for Chile’s private sector. This blog explores these elements and how they imply a paradigm shift in Chilean climate governance, becoming a leader in Latin America for climate action.
This post was co-authored by the Sabin Center’s Romany Webb and Noha Haggag and Michael Panfil of Environmental Defense Fund. Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), and the Initiative on Climate Risk and Resilience Law today released an Electric Resilience Toolkit to support […]
Despite scientists’ dire warnings about the impacts of climate change, the anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions that cause it continue to increase. The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide—the most commonly emitted greenhouse gas—is now higher than at any time in at least the last 800,000 years and likely several million years. […]
By Yumeno Grace Nishikawa, LLM* The Supreme Court of Japan may soon weigh in on a growing field of climate litigation in Japan against coal-fired power plants. On May 6, 2022, the Citizens’ Committee on the Kobe Coal-Fired Power Plant filed an appeal to Japan’s Supreme Court in Citizens’ Committee […]
We are thrilled to welcome Matthew Eisenson to the Sabin Center, where his work will focus on leading and expanding the Renewable Energy Legal Defense Initiative (RELDI), which uses legal research and engagement to support siting utility- and community-scale renewable energy facilities and associated transmission and storage equipment. Before joining the Sabin […]
In a report published last month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that, to keep global average temperatures within 1.5oC above pre-industrial levels, greenhouse gas emissions must reach net zero by mid-century. According to the IPCC, to achieve net zero emissions, carbon dioxide removal (CDR) will be […]
In a new white paper, we analyze New Jersey’s implementation gap in both the climate and justice space and offer some key recommendations to align executive action with the state’s bold promises. The paper’s findings and recommendations are potentially applicable to the many other states who have set climate and justice goals without robustly embedding them into their existing legal and administrative landscapes.
On April 20, 2022, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) finalized revisions to the regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The revisions undo changes made to the regulations during the Trump administration, which critics alleged could prevent federal agencies’ considering climate change in NEPA reviews. […]