Climate Change

Recent Posts

Marten Law: Virginia Supreme Court to Decide Insurance Coverage for Climate Change Suits--AES Corp. v. Steadfast Insurance Co.
Posted on 15 Jun 2011 by Steven G Jones

By Steven Jones, Partner, Marten Law PLLC "The Supreme Court of Virginia will soon decide whether a claim for damages alleged to have resulted from climate change is a covered 'occurrence' under standard general liability policies,"... Read More

Lawsuit Seeks To Force Belgian Government To Take Action Against Climate Change
Posted on 2 Jul 2015 by Columbia Law - Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Jennifer M. Klein, Esq. Associate Director & Fellow A group of Belgian citizens initiated a lawsuit in April seeking to compel their government to take aggressive action against climate change. The group, Klimaatzaak, filed a summons in the... Read More

Dutch Court Orders National GHG Reductions
Posted on 16 Jul 2015 by Columbia Law - Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

By Michael B. Gerrard This morning the Hague District Court issued its decision in a lawsuit brought by the Urgenda Foundation against the State of the Netherlands. The court ordered the Dutch state to limit annual greenhouse gas emissions from... Read More

Human impacts on the climate preceded the dawn of the petroleum age
Posted on 26 Jun 2011 by Thomas H. Clarke, Jr.

Prior posts, occasionally with tongue planted firmly in cheek, have noted that human impact on carbon loading in the atmosphere goes back to well before the industrial era. A recent assessment has calculated that over the eight millennia before 1850... Read More

Should Energy Board Consider Climate Before Approving Pipelines?
Posted on 4 Sep 2014 by Dianne Saxe

By Meredith James Can, and should, the National Energy Board consider climate impacts before approving oil pipelines? The federal government says no, objectors say yes. Now the courts must decide. The Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion would increase... Read More

D.C. Circuit upholds California's GHG law against challenge, finding that the U.S. Chamber and NADA both lacked standing
Posted on 9 May 2011 by Thomas H. Clarke, Jr.

Prior posts have followed the development of California's greenhouse gas law. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce challenged EPA's 2009 waiver which allowed California to regulate GHG emissions. In Chamber of Commerce of the United States et al v.... Read More

Meeting China’s Climate Goals: An Expert Discussion
Posted on 17 Nov 2015 by Columbia Law - Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

The Sabin Center and the Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP) recently co-hosted a panel discussion on Meeting China’s Climate Goals . The event was convened to discuss how China can shift its economy away from coal-fired power generation, improve... Read More

Area from Massachusetts to North Carolina Faces Accelerating Sea Level Increase
Posted on 25 Jun 2012 by Thomas H. Clarke, Jr.

Climate change has, on average, raised the surface of the world's oceans in recent decades by melting glaciers and causing seawater to expand as it warms. But the rise has not been uniform, just like the increase in ocean temperature. As noted in... Read More

Oslo Principles on Climate Change: Governments are Breaching Legal Duties
Posted on 30 Jun 2015 by Dianne Saxe

By Jennifer Kalnins Temple A group of preeminent international jurists have put together a series of legal principles, called the Oslo Principles on Global Obligations to Reduce Climate Change . These principles demonstrate that the governments... Read More

Arctic salt clouds are reducting the impact of Global Climate Change on the Arctic region
Posted on 15 May 2011 by Thomas H. Clarke, Jr.

Prior posts have noted both the various impacts of Global Climate Change ("GCC") on various aspects of the Earth and its atmospheric systems, as well as the failure of many/most models to include such impacts within their parameters. For example... Read More

The Minamata Convention and the Paris Climate Agreement: Insights into Senate-Less Adoption
Posted on 7 Apr 2015 by Columbia Law - Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

In 2011, governments around the world committed to deliver a new, universal, and binding greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction agreement for the period beyond 2020 by 2015. This agreement is to be adopted this December at the twenty-first Conference of the Parties... Read More

Sabin Center Publishes Comprehensive Assessment of Non-U.S. Climate Litigation
Posted on 13 Apr 2015 by Columbia Law - Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

The first comprehensive survey ever conducted of climate change litigation outside the United States has been released by Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. It finds that there is far more climate litigation in the United... Read More

Greenhouse Gas Tort Litigation
Posted on 3 Nov 2010 by LexisNexis Environmental Law Community Staff

By Robert A. Wyman, Jr. and Michael G. Romey; General Editor Bradley M. Marten Numerous lawsuits have been filed to address climate change, including those based in tort for injuries to persons and property caused by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.... Read More

Lynn Grayson Comments on U.S. Climate Change Actions
Posted on 29 Dec 2014 by Jenner & Block Corporate Environmental Lawyer

A European Union publication Interfax recently published an article titled China and US Will Make or Break Climate Deal by Annemarie Botzki. The article discusses the stance of countries around the world on climate change and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions... Read More

EPA Greenhouse Gas Permitting Requirements Maintain Focus on Largest Emitters
Posted on 3 Jul 2012 by LexisNexis Environmental Law Community Staff

Steps to streamline process will ease burden on state and local permitting authorities WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced that it will not revise greenhouse gas (GHG) permitting thresholds under the Clean Air... Read More