8 minute read
Projects
The Sabin Center currently focuses its work within four programmatic areas: Cross-cutting Issues & Initiatives, Energy Law, Environmental & Land Use Law, and International & Foreign Law. The Center’s thought leadership and direct engagement operate at the international, national, state and local levels.
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The Sabin Center tracks, analyzes, and submits amicus briefs in U.S. and global climate change litigation. Talks • Daniel Metzger presented on litigation risk in the insurance industry at Using hindsight and foresight: Enhancing the insurance industry’s assessment of climate change futures, a webinar hosted by UNEP’s Principles for
Sustainable Insurance Initiative. • Daniel Metzger spoke on the topic of trends in international climate litigation as a panelist at the 15th International
Congress on Environmental Law in Brazil. • Daniel Metzger participated in a panel at the Hawaii Bar Association’s annual conference on the topic of municipal lawsuits against fossil fuel companies and those cases’ national and international context. • Michael Gerrard spoke about the emergence of ethical issues in climate change litigation at a webinar on energy ethics and the law held by the Center for Commercial Law Studies of the
University of London. • Michael Gerrard spoke about “Climate
Change Litigation in the USA: Moving
Beyond Statutes” at a webinar, “Climate
Change in the Courts,” held by the
IUCN World Commission on
Environmental Law • Michael Gerrard spoke about the landscape of U.S. climate change litigation to the
International Seminar on Climate
Litigation as a Governance Tool held by
Duke Kunshan University (China). • Michael Burger spoke at Strategic Climate
Litigation: Insights from Global Experience, a
London Climate Week event hosted by the
London School of Economics. • Michael Burger delivered a keynote on global climate litigation at the Asia Pacific
Judicial Conference on Climate Change. Publications • The Sabin Center and Lamont-Doherty
Earth Observatory launched,
ClimateAttribution.org, a database of attribution studies with salience for law, policy and litigation. • The Asia Development Bank published the report series, Climate Change: Coming Soon to a Court Near You. Sabin Center members
Michael Burger, Ama Francis and Hillary
Aidun, and a number of summer interns, helped develop and author reports on litigation, legislation and climate science.
Defending Climate Science Talks • Romany Webb participated in panel discussions on “Next Steps Where Climate
Science, Law and Politics Collide” and
“Science Advice in a Biden Presidency,” as part of the SustainWhat webinar series. • Hillary Aidun spoke about opportunities for the Biden Administration on the podcast Sustain What?
Cities Climate Law Initiative
This Initiative helps U.S. cities achieve their climate mitigation commitments by addressing critical gaps or obstacles to advancing implementation. Talks • Amy Turner spoke at numerous events and workshops including: presented for the
Rocky Mountain Institute Building
Electrification Accelerator about natural gas bans; spoke on “Liveable Cities Climate
Pod: Cities and Climate Change” about city climate policy and the COVID-19 pandemic; participated in the ICLEI USA
Climate Action Planning Cohort training about city climate law; attended the New
York League of Conservation Voters
Forum on Reducing Emissions from
Buildings about building performance standards and other decarbonization strategies, online; participated in the
International Municipal Lawyers
Association webinar, Municipal Bans on
Natural Gas Hook-Ups; and participated in the Climate Leaders @ Penn-Build
Back Better and the Future of Cities event at the University of Pennsylvania. Engagement • Amy Turner consulted with outside partners and municipalities in New York,
Massachusetts and Michigan on building decarbonization strategies. • Amy Turner consulted with five west coast cities on emissions reductions from transportation network company (TNC) vehicles.
Renewable Energy Legal Defense Initiative (RELDI)
The Renewable Energy Legal Defense Initiative (RELDI), a joint project with the law firm of Arnold & Porter, provides pro bono legal representation to community groups and local residents who support renewable energy development in their communities, but are facing opposition. Engagement • Hillary Aidun represented local residents in two proceedings regarding proposed wind farms: one before the Ohio Power
Siting Board in October 2020, and one before the New York State Public Service
Commission in December 2020.
Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization (LPDD)
The Model Laws for Deep Decarbonization in the United States website, lpdd.org, provides policy makers at the federal, state and local levels with the legal tools needed to transition away from fossil fuels. Talks • Romany Webb participated in a panel discussion on “Deep Decarbonization:
Pro Bono Legislative Drafting
Opportunities” hosted by the American
Bar Association Section of Environment,
Energy, and Resources. • Michael Gerrard spoke about deep decarbonization at an American Bar
Association webinar, “Flattening the Curve – COVID-19 and Climate Change.” • Michael Gerrard spoke to the annual meeting of the American Bar
Association’s Section of Environment,
Energy and Resources about deep decarbonization pathways.
Carbon Dioxide Removal Law
On October 8th, the Sabin Center, in conjunction with the Center on Global Energy Policy, launched the Carbon Dioxide Removal Law Database, CDRLaw.org, an annotated bibliography of legal materials related to carbon dioxide removal and carbon sequestration and use. Talks • Romany Webb presented on “The Law of Enhanced Weathering for Carbon
Dioxide Removal” in a webinar hosted by the Institute for Carbon Removal
Law and Policy. • Michael Gerrard spoke about U.S. laws the marine environment to a webinar,
“Biotic and Abiotic Approaches for
Carbon Dioxide Removal in the Marine
Environment,” held by the Energy
Futures Initiative • Michael Gerrard spoke about legal issues in carbon sequestration at a webinar of the
American Bar Association’s Infrastructure and Regulated Industries Section. Engagement • Romany Webb presented on legal issues associated with in-situ and ex-situ carbon mineralization at a workshop on carbon dioxide removal through mineralization, hosted by the Energy Futures Initiative. • The Sabin Center is participating in a four-year study, funded by the Pacific
Institute for Climate Solutions, to develop an integrated negative emissions system that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere using direct air capture technology and permanently sequesters it in sub-seabed geologic formations. Environmental & Land Use Law Clean Air Act
The Sabin Center has been active in informing and defending EPA’s affirmative regulations, in advocating for more ambitious action and in opposing deregulation by the Trump administration. Engagement governing carbon dioxide removal in
• Hillary Aidun and Michael Burger filed an amicus brief on behalf of local government coalitions in Union of Concerned Scientists v.
NHTSA, the challenge to the Trump
Administration’s decision revoking
California’s authority to set its own motor vehicle emissions standards. Publications • Michael Burger saw publication of
Combating Climate Change with Section 115 of the Clean Air Act: Law and Policy
Rationales, by Edward Elgar Publishing.
Energy Law Talks • Romany Webb moderated a webinar on
“Addressing Landowner Concerns in
Renewable Energy Siting,” co-hosted by the American Bar Association Section of
Environment, Energy, and Resources and the Sabin Center. • Romany Webb moderated a webinar on
“Managing the Green Energy Transition,” co-hosted by the Sabin Center and
Columbia Environmental Law Society. • Romany Webb participated in a panel on
“Planning for Resilience in the Energy
Sector” as part of North American Smart
Energy Week. • Hillary Aidun presented on a panel regarding renewable energy siting in New
York State for the New York State Bar
Association Environmental and Energy
Law Section Fall Meeting.
• Michael Gerrard gave the keynote talk at the virtual annual meeting of the Independent Power Producers of
New York. He spoke about the role of carbon pricing. Engagement • Hillary Aidun and Romany Webb submitted comments on the Department of Energy’s proposed revisions to National
Environmental Policy Act regulations. • Hillary Aidun filed comments on regulations proposed by the New York
State Office of Renewable Energy Siting on behalf of New Yorkers who want to welcome wind and solar energy projects into their communities. • On June 26, July 29, and October 7, the
Sabin Center co-hosted virtual meetings of the International Regulatory Futures
Forum, which brings together energy regulators from the U.S., Europe, and
Australia to discuss emerging trends in the energy sector, with a particular focus on opportunities and challenges associated with the decarbonization of electricity and gas systems. • The Sabin Center, in collaboration with
Environmental Defense Fund and the
Institute for Policy Integrity, filed comments in support of a New York
Public Service Commission proposal to require climate-related risk disclosures by electric and gas utilities. International & Foreign Law Human Rights and Climate Change
The Sabin Center’s research explores how international human rights law can be used to enhance mitigation ambition and protect people from climate impacts. Talks • Ama Francis spoke about climate displacement and migration at a number of events and workshops, including ABA
Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice’s webinar, “Climate Migration and Displaced
People;” the Earth Institute event The Heat is On: The Climate Imperative; the Perry
World House event, Climate Migration from SIDS; the Council on Foreign
Relations’ 25th Term Member Conference on Climate Migration. • Michael Gerrard gave the keynote talk to a virtual conference, Energy Transitions and Global Crises, organized by several universities in Brazil. • He also spoke on the topic of climate change and the pandemic at a two events:
“Legal Environmental Issues in North
America During Covid-19,” held by the
American Bar Association Commission of
Hispanic Legal Rights and
Responsibilities, and at the International
Law Association’s International Law
Weekend program. Engagement •
Ama Francis was a member of Columbia’s
Committee on Forced Migration member, and organized a panel, “Lawyering for
Refugees during COVID-19.”
She also participated in a workshop on sea-level rise and self-determination at the Liechtenstein Institute on SelfDetermination at Princeton University & the Permanent Mission of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
