Cities Climate Law Initiative

33 posts

Cities, E-commerce & Public Health: 3 Legal Pathways to Limiting Freight Vehicle Emissions

A new Sabin Center white paper is linked here. In recent years, cities have become increasingly defined by e-commerce – the sprawling network of goods delivery from central warehouses to neighborhood distribution centers to residents’ front doors. This growing network of warehouses and the freight vehicles that serve them contribute […]

Sabin Center Files Amicus Brief Supporting New York City’s Motion to Appeal in Local Law 97 Case

On June 20th, 2024, the Sabin Center filed an amicus brief in support of the City of New York’s Motion for Leave to Appeal to the New York State Court of Appeals in Glen Oaks Village Owners, Inc., et al. v. City of New York. Glen Oaks – a 2022 […]

Cities and the IRA’s Green Banks: Strategies for Engagement

In April 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced funding recipients for its National Clean Investment Fund (NCIF) and Clean Communities Investment Accelerator (CCIA), two programs established by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The NCIF and CCIA awards are a step towards implementing the “third leg of the […]

This is a picture of Vincent

Vincent Nolette joins the Sabin Center as Equitable Cities Climate Law Fellow

Vincent Nolette joins our team at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law as the Equitable Cities Climate Law Fellow. His work will support the Center’s Cities Climate Law Initiative and include research on city-level law and policy at the intersection of climate and racial wealth equity. Before joining the […]

Inflation Reduction Act: Final Elective Pay Rules & Takeaways for Cities

Yesterday, March 5, 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released final regulations for their elective pay program, which allows many non-taxpayers, including local governments and their agencies and instrumentalities, to recoup the value of certain climate and clean energy tax credits as […]

IECC Appeals Could Undermine Electrification Requirements in New Construction

Building codes have a major influence on how local governments respond to climate change. They prescribe enforceable requirements for the materials that buildings are made of, for how living and working spaces are designed, and critically, for what kinds of environmental possibilities new buildings must be prepared to accommodate. For […]

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 […]

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 […]