Banking Regulators Act in the Face of Headwinds to Address Climate Risk

President Biden’s May 2021 Executive Order on Climate-Related Financial Risk is showing results. While the financial world is still waiting for key climate-related rules from several financial regulators, including the Security Exchange Commission (SEC), there has been some forward progress in recent weeks. The new regulations released by a group […]

Many pedestrians walking on a sidewalk

The Legal Case for Equity in Local Climate Action Planning

Last month, the Fordham Urban Law Journal published a paper I wrote titled The Legal Case for Equity in Local Climate Action Planning. In the last several years, cities’ climate action plans, or CAPs, have increasingly incorporated equity and justice objectives and metrics alongside more traditional greenhouse gas reduction measures […]

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law Submits Amicus Brief on Climate and Human Rights to Inter-American Court

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law Submits Amicus Brief on Climate and Human Rights to Inter-American Court On Friday, November 3, 2023, the Sabin Center submitted an amicus curiae brief to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the matter of the Request for Advisory Opinion on climate law, human […]

NYC buildings and street

New York State Court Upholds Local Law 97

Last week, the New York State Supreme Court for New York County dismissed Glen Oaks Village Owners v. City of New York, a 2022 lawsuit brought by a group of cooperative apartment and other building owners seeking to invalidate Local Law 97 of 2019, New York City’s building performance standard […]

Staff News: Chloe Field and Jacob Elkin Join the Sabin Center as Legal Fellows

Chloe Field joined the Sabin Center as a Legal Fellow to contribute to the Center’s work addressing climate risk and resilience in the financial sector. Working with the Initiative on Climate Risk and Resilience Law she will focus on federal and state regulatory efforts to address climate-related financial risks. She received […]

An Update on the Evolving Legal Landscape for Ocean-Based Carbon Dioxide Removal: Key Outcomes of the October 2023 Meeting of the Parties to the London Convention and Protocol

In a blog post last month, I wrote about the growing interest in ocean-based carbon dioxide removal (CDR), and the complex legal issues it raises. Much of the legal complexity surrounding ocean CDR stems from the fact that the ocean is a shared resource in which all countries, both coastal […]

The Major Questions Doctrine is a Fundamental Threat to Environmental Protection. Should Congress Respond?

In the year since the Supreme Court embraced the “major questions doctrine” (MQD), industry and Republican state attorneys general have argued that federal regulations ranging from stricter vehicle emissions standards to climate change disclosures must be struck down under its banner. Results have been mixed in the lower courts, which, […]

Pipeline crossing wetlands. Photo by Steve Hillebrand, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Permitting CO2 Pipelines: Overcoming State and Federal Barriers to CO2 Pipeline Networks

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 directed the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to support the development of four regional “direct air capture hubs” (DAC Hubs)—networks that connect direct air capture projects with sequestration facilities and commercial users of captured carbon dioxide (CO2). To support these DAC Hubs, […]