Cities Climate Law Initiative

40 posts

UPDATED: OMB’s Pause on Climate Grants, Loans, and Other Financial Assistance: Legal Issues and Next Steps for Federal Awardees

On Monday, January 27, 2025, the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued Memorandum-25-13 relating to a “Temporary Pause of Agency Grant, Loan, and Other Financial Assistance Programs.” The memo references several of President Trump’s January 20 executive orders (EOs), including the “Unleashing American Energy” EO. It directs federal […]

Trump 2.0, Day One: Considerations for Cities and Community Partners

As expected, a newly sworn-in President Donald Trump spent the afternoon following his inauguration signing executive orders (EOs), many of them intended to unwind climate and environmental initiatives enacted by former President Joe Biden. In the EOs, President Trump orders federal agencies and personnel to take certain actions – or […]

Sabin Center Files Amicus Brief Amid Trump Transition to Support EPA’s Heavy-Duty Vehicle Standards 

Yesterday, January 21, 2025, the Sabin Center filed an amicus brief on behalf of the National League of Cities (NLC) and the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) in support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2024 greenhouse gas emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles (the “HDV Rule”) that went into […]

Sabin Center Files Amicus Brief in New York’s Highest Court Supporting New York City’s Local Law 97

Last Friday, December 20, 2024, the Sabin Center submitted an amicus brief to the New York State Court of Appeals – the state’s highest court – in support of the City of New York in Glen Oaks Village Owners, Inc., et al. v. City of New York. At issue in […]

Seattle, King County & Nonprofits Challenge Washington’s Ballot Initiative Preempting Local Efforts to Phase Out Natural Gas

Over the last five years, at least 25 states have expressly preempted local governments from enacting requirements, or even incentives, to construct new buildings that do not rely on natural gas as a fuel source. On December 6, 2024, two local governments finally fought back in court. Seattle and King […]

Smart Surfaces Policy Tracker: A New Resource For Cities

Cities have a unique and significant role to play in responding to climate change. Many are already doing so by adopting legal and policy tools to encourage the use of smart surfaces—a group of technologies and design strategies that mitigate the effects of climate change in urban environments, especially extreme […]

Sabin Center Files Amicus Brief in Support of EPA’s 2024 Vehicle Emissions Standards

On Friday, December 6, the Sabin Center filed an amicus brief on behalf of the National League of Cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayors in support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Kentucky v. EPA as part of our ongoing amicus efforts to support strong federal climate […]

Cities, Climate & Trump: An Early Research Agenda

We know now that Donald Trump will take office as the United States’ 47th president this January, and that his stated desires for federal climate policy include withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, easing restrictions on oil drilling, and “rescind[ing] all unspent” Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds. For climate-forward cities, the […]