Union of Concerned Scientists

FEBRUARY 29, 2024

Fossil fuel companies are well established as founts of disinformation , agents of obstruction, and drivers of climate change. While the outcome of these climate-focused advisory opinions will unfold over the next several years, they have the potential to similarly shape international law and policy. What is an advisory opinion?

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Climate Change Fossil Fuels Law Government 214

Union of Concerned Scientists

JANUARY 10, 2024

Fresh off the heels of the 28 th Conference of the Parties (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), the global climate conversation is buzzing with a mix of skepticism and cautious optimism. Brazil: Brazil’s approach to net zero is in a state of evolution. This blog was coauthored by Joana Setzer and Laura Peterson.

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Paris Agreement Law Fossil Fuels Climate Change 213

Legal Planet

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

The Golden State has adopted a slew of climate change laws over the past twenty years, and an even greater number of regulations. To help you keep track, here is a timeline of California’s most important actions. Bush torpedoed climate action by the federal government early in his administration. 2015 SB350.

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Carbon Emissions Renewable Energy Climate Change 2002 241

Union of Concerned Scientists

APRIL 4, 2024

Since 2013, these data have provided the backbone for research that directly links climate impacts to carbon producing entities—a key component in the fight for climate accountability. The dataset is the result of painstaking work by Rick Heede , an early leader in the climate accountability movement.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

NOVEMBER 6, 2023

Climate change, one of the defining challenges of our time, demands multifaceted approaches to drive action and accountability. Two central players in this arena are climate litigators and United Nations (UN) climate negotiators. This is where climate litigation steps in.

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Paris Agreement Climate Change Fossil Fuels Government 232

Scientific American

DECEMBER 23, 2021

A raft of laws and regulations have included limits on power-sector emissions and cap-and-trade provisions. -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com.

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2021 Regulations Law Climate Change 97

Legal Planet

MARCH 12, 2024

At least 10 states so far this year have proposed legislation that would let voters decide in November whether they want the right to a clean, safe environment spelled out in their state constitutions, Bloomberg recently reported. The state court decision in Held v. These efforts are nascent and uncertain.

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Natural Resources Environmental Protection 2024 Conservation 331

Legal Planet

DECEMBER 4, 2023

Yet there was one issue where they did agree: climate change. We already know that idealists like Pope Francis support climate action. Kissinger spoke at length about climate change in a 2009 speech. Kissinger also viewed climate change as an economic threat.

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Climate Change Nuclear Power Carbon Dioxide 2009 261

NRDC

AUGUST 31, 2023

Creating a new platform for knowledge exchange between the United States and India for subnational actors in the power sector.

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PA Environment Daily

SEPTEMBER 23, 2022

The Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program will host a November 3 webinar on Local Climate Action Planning from 11:00 a.m. Hear first-hand experiences from two local government entities that recently adopted their own plans: Centre Region Council of Governments (2021) and the City of Meadville (2022).

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Environmental Protection Greenhouse Government 2022 45

Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 16, 2023

In a few days, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will release its latest synthesis report that provides a comprehensive assessment of the current state of scientific knowledge on climate change, including its causes, impacts, and potential solutions.

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Fossil Fuels Carbon Emissions Climate Change Sea Level 281

Union of Concerned Scientists

SEPTEMBER 25, 2023

Scientists have unequivocally confirmed that human activities, primarily the burning of fossil fuels, are driving unprecedented changes to the Earth’s climate, raising fundamental questions about our responsibility to safeguard the environment for future generations. What is a stable climate? And is it a right worth fighting for?

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Climate Change Sea Level Fossil Fuels 2008 290

Union of Concerned Scientists

APRIL 24, 2023

In an important win for climate accountability in the United States, the US Supreme Court decided that lawsuits filed in Colorado, Maryland, California, Hawai’i, and Rhode Island against fossil fuel companies including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, Suncor, and others will remain in state courts.

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Fossil Fuels Climate Change Government Carbon Dioxide 282

Legal Planet

MARCH 7, 2024

Back in 2019, at the last face-to-face Assembly, the Swiss proposed a resolution to assess the science and possible governance of ‘climate altering techniques’ aka geoengineering. Here in part 1 of our report, we explain the process and describe the positions adopted by different states.

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2019 Government Precautionary Principle Technology 339

Union of Concerned Scientists

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

The climate crisis is one of humanity’s most complex conflicts yet. Countries in the Global South that are barely emitting any heat-trapping emissions have felt the impacts of this struggle acutely, despite countries like the United States and China accounting for nearly 40% of cumulative global carbon pollution.

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Fossil Fuels Climate Change Paris Agreement Air Pollution 247

Union of Concerned Scientists

DECEMBER 10, 2023

Last week, I joined my colleagues at COP28 in Dubai , as negotiators and civil society push for a fossil fuel phaseout to meet climate goals. This year there has been a lot of attention on the more than 2,400 oil and gas lobbyists at the climate meetings. The fossil fuel industry continues to lead campaigns to mislead the public.

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Fossil Fuels Carbon Dioxide Climate Change Paris Agreement 266

Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 7, 2024

What role is climate change playing? As climate change increases the frequency or intensity of extreme events such as wildfires, heat waves, and heavy downpours, there is an increase in the potential for different types of risks to coincide or for a climate-related event to trigger a cascade of non-climatic consequences.

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Climate Change 2011 Sea Level Radiation 324

Washington Nature

APRIL 22, 2024

By Todd Reeve, CEO of the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, and James Schroeder, Director of Conservation for The Nature Conservancy in Washington Earth Day ignited our collective awareness of challenges facing people and nature, and spurred unparalleled legislative action bringing us cleaner air and water. In total $17.4

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Earth Day Climate Change Sea Level Air Pollution 105

Union of Concerned Scientists

DECEMBER 4, 2023

Last year, I made three predictions for what would happen in climate litigation in 2023. Two of my predictions hit the mark, while the other one revealed the complexity of the legal battles waged against climate injustice. My prediction that cases would finally be heard on their merits in the United States encountered a mixed reality.

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2024 Fossil Fuels Climate Change Government 221

Legal Planet

AUGUST 15, 2023

A state court judge in the ‘Last Best Place’ just gave the youth climate movement a shot in the arm with the first decision of its kind that directly connects specific state actions to global climate change and then to injuries suffered by young people. The plaintiffs won this case on climate science.

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Fossil Fuels Climate Change Renewable Energy Carbon Dioxide 245

Legal Planet

DECEMBER 19, 2023

The climate crisis is a public health crisis, and it finally seems global leaders have recognized that fact. With the backdrop of the first-ever Health Day at the annual UN climate conference, air quality in Dubai soared, as PM2.5 The World Health Organization states the annual average concentrations of PM2.5

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Fossil Fuels Air Pollution Climate Change Carbon Monoxide 253

Legal Planet

JUNE 14, 2023

It has been widely reported in recent weeks that California’s public transit systems are seeking billions of dollars in support from the state budget to avoid the fiscal cliff they are facing due to slow ridership recovery following the pandemic and shifts in work commute patterns. So how are cities planning to get it done?

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2030 2019 Regulations Government 263

Legal Planet

NOVEMBER 9, 2023

This post is co-authored by CLEE Climate Policy Fellow, Hanna Payne In the arc of climate action, we are firmly in the era of implementation. As climate change accelerates, communities across the state are experiencing the effects of a changing climate.

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Government Climate Change Greenhouse Regulations 130

Legal Planet

OCTOBER 2, 2023

We need to understand the history of climate action as we plan for the future. In terms of climate leadership, Americans tend to think of California. It has helped to shape EU climate policy, while at the same time its own policies were shaped by the EU’s. Climate law makes emission targets legally binding 2019.

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Nuclear Power Renewable Energy Carbon Emissions 2030 264

Legal Planet

JANUARY 17, 2024

The Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force ( GCF Task Force ) engaged in the 28th Conference of the Parties ( COP28 ) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Dubai, marking a pivotal moment in the global climate dialogue.

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Climate Change Government Deforestation 2009 147

Legal Planet

DECEMBER 11, 2023

After a landmark 2022—a record $54 billion committed to climate spending and legislation that codified the state’s goals of carbon neutrality by 2045 and 90 percent clean electricity by 2035—a significantly gloomier budget forecast gave rise to fears that California’s climate programs would take a hit.

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Law Clean Energy Fossil Fuels 2030 292

Union of Concerned Scientists

NOVEMBER 16, 2023

Last year, Congress passed the most ambitious climate bill ever enacted, the Inflation Reduction Act. Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, the United States voluntarily pledged to reduce its global warming emissions at least 50 percent below their 2005 levels by the end of this decade and reach net-zero emissions no later than 2050.

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Carbon Emissions Fossil Fuels Clean Energy 2030 295

Union of Concerned Scientists

NOVEMBER 16, 2022

The 27 th Conference of the Parties (COP27), this year’s UN climate conference, is in its final days. For a deeper dive on what’s really going on here in Egypt, check out the Climate Action Against Disinformation’s website.). A small number of big corporations are responsible for the climate crisis.

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Fossil Fuels Paris Agreement Renewable Energy Carbon Dioxide 299

Union of Concerned Scientists

JANUARY 19, 2023

But what of the climate crisis? Society as a whole only acknowledged in hindsight the essential role of this courageous rule-breaking in driving the United States toward greater racial justice. Today, members of the climate movement are using these tactics to drive climate progress. In the U.S., But what of scientists?

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Climate Scientist Fossil Fuels Climate Change 2019 260

Legal Planet

MAY 16, 2023

On a per capita basis, Australia’s carbon emissions are even higher than the United States. A decade ago, Australia had a climate tax. As in the US, Australia’s climate policy was long a victim of a lengthy period of divided government and political upheaval. there has been strong polarization on the climate issue.

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Legal Planet

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

The state of California has joined the party. By “party” I mean the increasingly ambitious climate liability litigation against Big Oil. Gavin Newsom answered a question by the New York Times’ David Gelles, who leads the Climate Forward newsletter. The state’s complaint borrows the same frame, as “the road not taken.”

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Fossil Fuels Climate Change 2015 Sea Level 304

Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 29, 2023

Just last week, we heard that with regard to climate change, “ humanity is on thin ice—and that ice is melting fast.” Yet policymakers still use the disinformation playbook to deceive and misinform the public about climate change, at the expense of our well-being and our future. No kidding, Senator. Source: Google maps.

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Fossil Fuels Climate Change Clean Energy Politics 236

Union of Concerned Scientists

MAY 10, 2023

This year has brought new evidence of what major fossil fuel companies knew and when about the role their products play in climate change, as well as what they did in spite of what they knew. It’s déjà vu all over again in 2023, with BP rolling back its climate pledges after record-breaking 2022 profits since Russia’s unjust war on Ukraine.

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Fossil Fuels Climate Change Carbon Dioxide Renewable Energy 346

Union of Concerned Scientists

JULY 18, 2023

At the end of June, the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics (LSE) launched its annual report on climate litigation. The report is based on data from the Sabin Center , which has documented 2,341 climate change cases to date. Cases like Asmania v. Exxon Mobil Corp.,

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Climate Change Government Fossil Fuels 2023 222

Legal Planet

MARCH 28, 2024

The plan is already being challenged in court by the expected mix of outer-borough and neighboring state representatives who call the plan an unfair tax on commuters and right-wing groups that oppose regulation and transit in equal measure. Failure to do so would constitute a simple abandonment of these long-established state climate goals.

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2019 Politics Regulations Government 173

Legal Planet

NOVEMBER 11, 2021

Yesterday, China and the US announced a “Joint Glasgow Declaration on Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s” ( En / Ch ) What to make of it? The short answer is that it only offers slight forward progress on climate action. Action from the world’s two largest emitters is obviously essential to achievement of this goal.

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Paris Agreement 2030 Clean Energy 2020 356

Legal Planet

MARCH 6, 2024

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted 3-2 to adopt climate reporting standards that will mandate publicly-traded companies disclose some of their greenhouse gas emissions. That being the case, today’s action at the SEC underscores the need for California to forge ahead with the laws’ implementation.

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Greenhouse Law Government 2022 195