In the December 2015 Paris Agreement of the parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, nations unanimously agreed to a goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by the second half of this century, and a plan for achieving that goal. The challenge now is implementation. This...

The U.S. Department of Energy is working to develop and implement commercial-scale carbon capture and storage. This article discusses the technical and legal problems that must be resolved to have a viable program. It concludes that whether carbon sequestration becomes a commercial reality will...

This article focuses on NEPA compliance by the U.S. Department of Energy and its National Energy Technology Laboratory concerning the funding of carbon capture and storage projects. The article concludes that NEPA documents that are produced comply with the statute’s requirements, but the...

This paper will use the criteria outlined in Lavanya Rajamani's article 'Addressing the "Post Kyoto" Stress Disorder: Reflections on the Emerging Legal Architecture of the Climate Regime', as a template to determine how successful the Copenhagen Meeting was in achieving its stated goals. Thus,...

One of the most longstanding narratives in environmental law and politics is the alleged necessity of choosing between development and environment. The narrative, based on conventional development, has a built-in zero-sum game — development or environment. A competing narrative, which has been...

This Debate in Print concentrates on the U.S. energy system and asks, How should public policy move forward to promote the decarbonization of the American economy? And what blend of law, economics, science, and technology will get the job done?

Federalism is ostensibly misplaced to mitigate climate change as a global public concern as it is prone to import the inadequate incentive structures existing at the international level into the domestic domain. Drawing from the legal structures and procedures of Swiss federalism, this article...

This contribution examines the generation-based support schemes for renewable energy sources. It investigates the design choices that Member States have made so far and the stance that the Commission has adopted on these choices. Moreover, it provides a taxonomy of different support schemes and...

This chapter sets out proposed federal laws and policies for America's Zero Carbon Action Plan, a comprehensive report on how to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. This chapter sets forth recommendations for all four pillars of deep decarbonization – electricity decarbonization, energy...

This chapter in an upcoming book on Climate Justice initially discusses the status of American and Canadian indigenous communities and focuses on specific tribes in North America. Following a brief introduction of Canadian and American indigenous peoples, this chapter addresses the threats faced...