The ELM blog has covered several lawsuits filed over the past several years against major fossil fuel companies by plaintiffs seeking damages due to climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions. The claims in these...more
In a update to the Environmental Law Monitor’s continuing coverage of California’s historic climate disclosure laws, California State Sen. Scott Weiner put forth on August 13 proposals to Senate Bill 219 that would delay the...more
In one of its last official acts before starting its summer recess earlier this month, the California legislature passed a bill putting Prop 4 on the November ballot, which would allow the state to borrow $10 billion plus...more
On May 28, multiple federal agencies in conjunction with the White House published a Joint Policy Statement that laid out the principles for the further development of future, high-integrity voluntary carbon-credit markets....more
On May 21, 2024, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) published what has been deemed as an “historic” and “unprecedented” advisory opinion on climate change, international law, and on state obligations...more
Last month, our readers will recall that we reported on some pushback raised regarding the new climate disclosure rules promulgated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requiring publicly traded registrants to...more
As reported to our readers in August 2023, the California Supreme Court in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. County of Monterey, (2023) Cal. LEXIS 4349, struck down a Monterey County initiative that would have banned oil and gas...more
4/4/2024
/ CA Supreme Court ,
California ,
Center for Biological Diversity ,
Chevron ,
Climate Change ,
Land Use Restrictions ,
Mineral Extraction ,
New Legislation ,
Pollution Control ,
State Bans ,
Well Drilling
The Supreme Court of New Zealand recently removed some significant roadblocks to bringing private law claims against major corporate greenhouse (GHG) emitters with a decision made in the case of Smith v. Fonterra....more
Last week, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) was named as a defendant in a new U.S. District Court, Central District of California lawsuit challenging California’s two new climate disclosure and financial reporting...more
On the first day of the two-week United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties, more commonly referred to as COP28, delegates reached a landmark agreement to formerly create a Loss and Damage Fund, a rescue and...more
Earlier this month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom enacted into law two bills, both of which will — for the first time in any U.S. state — require large companies doing business within the state to release a wide array of...more
11/2/2023
/ California ,
Climate Change ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Policies ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Governor Newsom ,
Legislative Agendas ,
New Legislation ,
Reporting Requirements ,
State and Local Government ,
State Legislatures
On September 11, 2023, the New York City Planning Commission (CPC) approved the first of several rezoning proposals from Mayor Eric Adams aimed at reducing carbon emissions to reach the city’s climate goals. Specifically, New...more
Oregon’s most populous county, and home to Portland, sued more than a dozen oil, gas, and coal companies for over $50 million in damages related to a 2021 “heat dome” the county alleges was caused by the defendants’...more
9/7/2023
/ Climate Change ,
Coal ,
Damages ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Infrastructure ,
Negligence ,
Oil & Gas ,
Oregon ,
Pollution Control
Several states have implemented steps to build up legislative frameworks needed for carbon-capture utilization and sequestration (CCUS) projects in the first half of 2023. CCUS refers to the process of capturing...more
Since 2017, a number of state government entities from cities, counties, and states across the country have gone after fossil fuel companies in court charging them with violating state law by marketing their products as not...more
Biden administration officials announced on December 20, 2022, that the U.S. Postal Service intends to purchase over 66,000 electric vehicles by 2028, which would create one of the nation’s largest electric fleets in an...more
Due to increasing droughts, wildfires, flooding, and more severe storms, most of the scientific community and political leaders around the world agree that climate change is a real and significant threat facing this planet...more
Despite California’s most recent, two-year legislative session ending on September 1 with a flurry of new bills aimed at fighting global warming getting passed, one noticeable bill failed to pass on the last day. Senator...more
The Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment (CLEE) at Berkeley Law last month, in conjunction with the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA Law, issued Driving Equity, a new reportaimed at...more
On Monday, March 21, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a new rule aimed at requiring public companies to disclose extensive climate-related data to not only the federal government, but also their shareholders....more