With the UK due to host the COP 26 climate summit in a year’s time, the UK Government is keen to set out its credentials as a global ‘green‘ leader and demonstrate not only that it can make good on its election promise to level up (with much of the promised Green Industrial Revolution investment
Environmental Law
Anticipated Changes on Energy / Environmental Policies
Energy, climate, and environment are areas where the policy differences resulting from the final outcome of the election also will be particularly stark. On November 4, 2020, President Trump took the final step consummating his pledge to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement. This reflects his early and consistent perspective, embodied in…
Assessing the Paris Climate Agreement
Much no doubt will be written about how 195 nations came together in Paris to make a global commitment to tackle climate change and what changes in regulation and the investment landscape might result. From my vantage point in Paris during the negotiations, a few key impressions stand out.
First, the agreement overcomes those past…
High Wire Balancing Act in Paris Climate Talks
The president and his climate negotiating team seem most like the high-wire artist Philippe Petit, who improbably strung a wire between the towers of the World Trade Center and mustered reserves of guts and grace— leavened by intense focus, preparation, and a mild amount of lunacy— to walk between the twin towers.
In order for…
Lock Down of Nuclear Site: False Alarm, with a Lesson Learned
Last week the Savannah River Site (“SRS”) in South Carolina, a large nuclear facility owned by the U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”), went into a lock down after electronic and canine scans of a commercial delivery truck attempting to enter the facility indicated possible explosive residue on the vehicle. Fortunately, the lock down was lifted…
No Business As Usual in Davos
This year, titans of business, government and society face a near tidal wave of anxiety-provoking events and trends in “The New Global Context” they will discuss this week. Rather than upbeat discussions of start-ups and breakthroughs, they will confront some of the world’s most intractable issues just as global events highlight the failure of sufficient …
The Road to Paris 2015: Contrasting Media Perspectives on the US-China Accord on Climate Change and Clean Energy
As has been widely reported, on November 12 President Obama and China’s President Xi Jinping released a joint announcement on climate change and clean energy cooperation. Beyond the announced greenhouse gas emission targets—for the U.S., to reduce emissions 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2025; for China, (i) to peak CO2 emissions by around 2030, with…
Tax Fairness for Renewable Energy
Congress has a great opportunity to amend the tax code in a way which will benefit the environment, promote American jobs, and foster diversity in our energy sources. It can achieve these results by enacting the Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act.
Since the early 1980’s, oil and gas producers have been permitted to use Master…