Book Description

This book comprehensively assesses the law and science of climate change, as well as the policy choices for responding to this global problem. Given the all-encompassing reach of climate change, Climate Change and the Law allows students to study how the many different areas of law-public international law, public administrative law, federal environmental law, state and municipal regulations, and the common law-can be implicated in addressing a major social issue. This textbook thus provides students with an integrated experience to study law and an understanding of the many climate-related challenges facing the next generation of lawyers. The book begins by exploring the international climate change regime, including a detailed investigation of emissions trading and the controversial regime for reducing greenhouse gas emissions through land use and forest management practices. It also explores options for a future international agreement in light of calls to reduce emissions by as much as 80 percent. The book also addresses how other international agreements can help spur climate change mitigation or adaptation, exploring, for example, whether petitions to list World Heritage Sites as endangered due to climate change and petitions to declare climate change a violation of human rights will advance global efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions. The second edition of Climate Change and the Law has been updated to include the following: The updated scientific findings, including information from the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The decisions of the Parties to adopt a second commitment period to the Kyoto Protocol. A discussion of the new rules for accounting emissions from forests and land use change under the Kyoto Protocol. An update on the climate negotiations after the Copenhagen Accord, including negotiation of and implementation of the Cancun Agreements. The state of play with regard to negotiations to build a new climate regime to take effect in 2020. A focus on short-lived climate forcers such as methane and HFCs in a range of multilateral forums, including the International Civil Aviation Organization and the Arctic Council. An expanded treatment of adaptation, particularly at the federal level in the United States. A discussion of the U.S. EPA's efforts to value the social cost of carbon. An updated overview of the U.S. approach to climate change since the 1970s. An expansive discussion of the U.S. EPA's regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, including regulations and case law related to vehicle emissions and stationary source emissions. A discussion of revisions to the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards and Renewable Fuels Standards. A reorganized discussion of energy policy, with a focus on renewable portfolio standards, net metering, feed-in tariffs, and the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA). New information about states' implementation of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and California's preliminary experience with its cap-and-trade program. This book also is available in a three-hole punched, alternative loose-leaf version printed on 8.5 x 11 inch paper with wider margins and with the same pagination as the hardbound book.