By J. Cullen Howe, Environmental Law Specialist, Arnold & Porter LLP In May 2011, the Global Environment Facility, in collaboration with two United Nation agencies (the U.N. Environment Program and the U.N. Human Settlements Program), announced... Read More

By Patrick Greissing, Alston & Bird LLP A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences states that despite the increase in greenhouse gas emissions from 1998 to 2008, global surfaces temperatures have leveled... Read More

Because water has a vastly larger capacity for heat storage than the atmosphere, eventually between 80 to 90 percent of the heat trapped by the greenhouse effects ends up being stored in the oceans. Thus, the trend in ocean temperatures is an excellent... Read More

Numerous past posts have noted that evidence for global warming can be found in the numerous reports on specific environmental conditions and events around the globe (for example, the migration of corals around Japan, the trend in lakes around the world... Read More

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

Concern has been expressed in recent years over the contribution of aircraft to GHG emissions. Some airlines have gotten favorable publicity for experimenting with bio-derived fuels. But, what if aircraft were to target reducing fuel consumption by half... Read More

By J. Cullen Howe, Environmental Law Specialist, Arnold & Porter LLP On February 2, 2012, the Urban Green Council released a report finding that New York City is on track to meet its goal of lowering carbon emissions, energy consumption, and waste... Read More

The oceans emit an estimated 30% of the nitrous oxide (N2O) entering the atmosphere. Nitrous oxide gives rise to NO (nitric oxide) when it reacts with oxygen atoms, and this NO in turn reacts with ozone. As a result, N2O is the main naturally occurring... Read More

By Julia Ciardullo, Fellow, Center for Climate Change, Columbia Law School With the 112th Congress now in session, Senators from both parties have already introduced legislation that would block EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases ... Read More

Consumer Savings Comparable to Lowering Price of Gasoline by $1 Per Gallon by 2025 WASHINGTON, DC - The Obama Administration has finalized groundbreaking standards that will increase fuel economy to the equivalent of 54.5 mpg for cars and light... Read More

A recent posting noted that because the Sun is at a solar minimum, the impact of GHG increases in the atmosphere have been less than would otherwise be anticipated. Now, a new report suggests that the Sun is entering an unanticipated, a potentially prolonged... Read More

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

Yesterday's post noted some of the adverse consequences that are likely to arise from acidification of oceans. Another recent study shows that such acidification can influence the behavior of fish because of impacts on their brains; the response of... Read More

NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released their analyses of global surface temperature data for 2010. Both found that 2010 was slightly warmer than 2005, but that the difference was not statistically significant. Combined... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced yesterday a final rule to address greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the largest stationary sources, while shielding millions of small sources of GHGs from Clean Air Act permitting... Read More