Global Health Research Center of Central Asia
Columbia Law School Scholarship ArchiveNot a member yet
5770 research outputs found
Sort by
Community Benefit Sharing and Renewable Energy and Green Hydrogen Projects: Policy Guidance for Governments
Get PDFThe massive and rapid expansion of renewable energy is needed to limit global warming, so its social acceptance must be assured. While not a silver bullet, well-designed and governed benefit-sharing arrangements can lead to beneficial outcomes in ways that speak to affected communities’ needs and interests.
In partnership with the Green Hydrogen Organization and to support the efforts of the Planning for Climate Commission, this report offers high-level guidance to governments that seek to ramp up the development of renewable energy projects, including power generation and grid infrastructure. The report emphasizes that governments need a strong and coherent policy approach addressing the rights, expectations, and perspectives of project-affected communities. Direct community benefits can be vital in ensuring communities are treated fairly, while simultaneously building support that can bolster project development. Examples of ways in which governments can ensure the fair treatment and integration of project-affected communities include: Encouraging and ideally mandating community consultation or co-design of benefit-sharing arrangements. Ensuring that communities have access to effective and accessible grievance mechanisms that empower them to bring forward complaints regarding the operation of community benefit-sharing arrangements. Enabling shared community ownership, where communities receive a fair distribution of benefits from renewables projects if the community is adequately supported in their decision to enter into it, and in their ongoing efforts to manage the projects. Designing benefit-sharing arrangements in a way that considers what happens when a renewable project reaches the end of its initial lifespan
Finance for Zero: Redefining Financial-Sector Action to Achieve Global Climate Goals
Get PDFAs of 2023, the financial system is woefully misaligned with the world’s climate goals. Six times the current annual level of investment in non-fossil fuel investments is needed between 2023 and 2030 to stay on a 1.5ºC warming pathway. The ratio of clean-energy lending and equity underwriting by banks relative to fossil fuels needs to reach 4 to 1 by 2030, whereas for 1,142 assessed banks, the ratio was between 0.8 and 1 at the end of 2021.
As providers, underwriters, and fiduciaries of trillions of dollars of capital flows annually, financial institutions (FIs) play a critical role in decarbonizing the economy and scaling access to clean, affordable energy. Optimally, the roles and opportunities for the financial sector should be guided by an official pathway and associated policy tools, such as carbon pricing, public finance and guarantees, strategic subsidies, sectoral regulations, and so on. Unfortunately, that policy framework to shape and guide the financial sector does not yet exist.
In the absence of strong government leadership, there has been a proliferation of bottomup models, tools, metrics, methodologies, and initiatives designed to measure and evaluate the climate performance of financial institutions. While the rapid growth of these initiatives demonstrates the financial sector’s engagement, meaningful progress in realigning global finance to support climate goals has been limited. These frameworks and tools often overstate or misrepresent the extent to which they support meaningful action toward achieving climate goals, and at times rely on misaligned targets or metrics that undermine their effectiveness as tools for setting or assessing corporate commitments. Overall, existing commitments and strategies are not sufficiently aligned with the actions needed from financial sector actors to achieve climate goals.
There are deep and inherent limitations to bottom-up approaches to achieving decarbonization, some that are within the capability of financial institutions to address but many that are beyond their remit. This report focuses on the things the financial sector can and should do even in the absence of a robust long-term policy framework
Harmonizing Product-Level GHG Accounting for Steel and Aluminum
Get PDFGreenhouse gas (GHG) accounting methods for steel and aluminum products have begun converging towards common standards within their respective industries in recent years. However, accounting methods for steel products and aluminum products are still not fully comparable with each other. If emissions are measured and allocated differently for these products, then these accounting differences have the potential to influence materials choices for manufacturers concerned about reducing their reported GHG footprint. Companies could therefore be motivated to make a choice between aluminum and steel according to emissions benefits that materialize from differences in accounting frameworks, but which do not actually exist in practice. These incentives will materialize for any substitutable materials which do not use fully comparable GHG accounting frameworks. Bringing product-level accounting methods for substitutable materials such as steel and aluminum into alignment with each other is therefore necessary to eliminate this gap.
This study analyzes the major high-level differences between the International Aluminium Institute’s product-level guidance and cradle-to-gate product-level accounting in the steel industry, represented by a synthesis between the ResponsibleSteel International Standard and the Worldsteel Life Cycle Inventory Methodology
The End of Asylum Redux and the Role of Law School Clinics
Get PDFThe Biden Administration has perpetuated many of the prior administration’s hostile policies undermining access to asylum at the southern border. This Essay first examines these policies and then identifies emerging opportunities for law school clinics to address these new challenges, including by serving asylum seekers south of the U.S.-Mexico border
Anticipatory Deference: What Will Courts Decide and not Decide Before Enforcing an Agreement to Arbitrate?
Get PDFThe question of deference in international arbitration usually arises when the issue before a decision-maker, be it a tribunal or a court, is one that has already been addressed and ruled upon by another decision-maker over an arbitration’s life-cycle. The salience of this question stems from the fact that international arbitration is a highly iterative and staged process over the course of which different actors are successively confronted with the same issue. This is particularly the case in regard to jurisdictional issues because the authority of a tribunal to entertain a dispute is potentially an issue at all stages.
But deference may be shown not only to past rulings but also to rulings yet to come. Although there has been no prior ruling on an issue, a decision-maker may ask itself whether it should approach the issue deferentially, i.e., in the sense of leaving it to be primarily decided at a later time and elsewhere. This may not be how we usually view the notion of deference, but it is in fact a species of deference. It is one we may call deference by anticipation, or simply ‘anticipatory deference’
Learned Hand\u27s Copyright Law
Get PDFLearned Hand is often described as the greatest copyright judge to have ever sat on the bench. By the 1950s, the most important parts of U.S. copyright law had been his creation, all from his time as a judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Despite all of this, there has been little systematic analysis of Hand’s approach to copyright and of the reasons why his jurisprudence in multiple areas of copyright law have survived the test of time. This Article argues that the longevity, influence and canonical status of Hand’s contributions to copyright are closely tied to his judicial method — best described as that of “empowered incertitude” — which he brought to bear rather directly on the area. Despite being governed by a federal statute, copyright law demands commitments to both judicial creativity and institutional deference. In addition, it requires judges to balance these opposing commitments, which Hand’s judicial method was particularly well-suited to. In the process, Hand developed a rich and nuanced institutional theory of copyright law, which foreshadowed the turn that copyright law would take after his time on the bench. Understanding Hand’s approach to copyright law embodies underappreciated lessons for how judges ought to approach copyright adjudication and lawmaking in the modern context
Human Rights and Climate Change for Climate Litigation in Brazil and Beyond: An Analysis of the \u3cem\u3eClimate Fund\u3c/em\u3e Decision
Get PDFIn 2022, the Brazilian Supreme Court announced a groundbreaking decision in the Climate Fund case. The decision, rendered amidst a challenging political climate, acknowledges the significance of the Paris Agreement within the country’s legal framework. The Court’s ruling established that the executive branch has a constitutional obligation to allocate funds from the Climate Fund for climate change mitigation and adaptation, grounded in the constitutional right to a healthy environment, international rights and commitments, and the principle of separation of powers.
Notably, the Court recognized the Paris Agreement as a human rights treaty, granting it “supranational” status. The implications of the decision are far-reaching, including the potential influence on climate litigation cases in Brazil and other jurisdictions that similarly recognize the constitutional right to a healthy environment. However, the lack of visibility of the decision beyond Brazil hinders the advancement and understanding of global climate litigation trends.
This Article aims to address this gap by providing an in-depth analysis of the Climate Fund decision, its implications, and its role in shaping rights-based climate litigation in Brazil and beyond. The Article adopts a comparative perspective to analyze trends in climate litigation, examining the rights and duties recognized by the Brazilian Supreme Court and their broader implications at national, regional, and global levels. It argues that the decision marks the beginning of a new phase in climate litigation in Brazil and establishes critical precedents regarding the interpretation of the Paris Agreement, the human rights duty to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and the role of judicial oversight in implementing the agreement. It also sheds light on Brazil’s role as a hub for global climate litigation, showcasing procedural advancements, innovative cases, and influential rulings that have the potential to inspire litigants and courts worldwide
Red White and Blue – and Also Green: How Energy Policy Can Protect Both National Security and the Environment
Get PDFToo often, energy policy protects the environment while neglecting national security, or vice versa. Since each goal is critical, this Article shows how to advance both at the same time.
For national security, the key is to avoid depending on the wrong suppliers. If they are vulnerable to attack (like some Middle Eastern producers), they need to be defended. Or, if they are themselves geopolitical threats (like Russia and Iran), their energy exports fund harmful conduct. This Article breaks new ground in showing why suppliers tend to be insecure or menacing: authoritarian regimes — which are more likely to pose these risks — have a comparative advantage in producing oil and gas, since they are less responsive to opposition from environmentalists, local residents, and other groups.
To avoid depending on the wrong suppliers, the U.S. and its allies should pursue two strategies. First, they should cut demand for fossil fuel. Along with making it easier to stop buying from the wrong suppliers, slashing demand also reduces greenhouse gas emissions and pollution. Yet although these are significant national security and environmental advantages, there is an offsetting national security risk: like fossil fuel, the main alternative — clean energy — also can foster dependence on insecure or potentially hostile suppliers (like Congo and China). In response, the U.S. and its allies should ramp up domestic production of clean energy technology, while also encouraging households and businesses to use it.
Second, since the transition to clean energy will take time, the U.S. and its allies also need to tap new sources of fossil fuel in countries that are secure and friendly. Yet since new fossil fuel development raises familiar environmental concerns, this Article proposes three ways to do it while still reducing emissions and pollution. First, these new sources should be as “clean” as possible (for example, natural gas instead of coal). Second, in adding new capacity, the goal should be to replace other fossil fuel sources, not to add to them (for example, so more production in the U.S. means less production in Russia). Third, new sources should be flexible, so they can ramp up and scale back as needed. Fortunately, these shifts are relatively easy for U.S. shale producers — indeed, more so than for others — and can be encouraged with the right regulatory approach.
While government intervention is needed to pursue these goals, policymakers should strive to harness the private sector’s capacity to innovate, cut costs, and enhance quality. A moratorium on new fossil fuel development is counterproductive, entrenching a status quo that depends too much on coal, as well as on insecure and hostile energy suppliers. Instead, the best approach is to “price” the relevant national security and environmental costs with Pigouvian taxes, motivating businesses and consumers to mitigate these costs and letting them choose how to do it. Yet if Pigouvian taxes are not politically feasible, this Article recommends a heuristic called “the marginal efficiency cost of energy”: policymakers should account for all the social costs of each source — private costs, national security costs, and environmental costs — and strive to replace highcost sources with low-cost sources. This framework should guide all aspects of energy policy — from permits and regulations to rate-setting, mandates, moratoriums, subsidies, and government leases — so policymakers stay focused on both environmental and national security goals
Net Zero Roadmap for Copper and Nickel
Get PDFAs we seek to meet the challenges of climate change impacts, many commodities will play an increasing role in decarbonizing economies. There are increasing challenges of addressing the emissions from extraction of these commodities needed to support the zero-carbon transition.
CCSI, in a consortium with Carbon Trust, RMI, and the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines, developed the Net Zero Roadmap to 2050 for Copper and Nickel Value Chains to support the copper and nickel mining sectors in taking collective, coordinated action by providing a clear, approachable, and accepted roadmap for decarbonization.
Our key messages to mining CEOs are as follows: Demand for Energy Transition Metals (ETMs) doubles GHG emissions. To reach net zero, ETM emissions will need to reduce by 90%. Technological solutions are already or soon will be available. Three waves of technology deployment: (i) Renewable energy, site operational energy efficiency improvements, and process optimization; (ii) zero-emissions haulage trucks; (iii) process heat electrification and green hydrogen. Enormous ESG risks associated with rising ETM demand. For example, many copper and nickel reserves are located in high water risk and high biodiversity areas respectively, necessitating proactive and responsible management. Just Transition. Mining companies, governments and other actors have an important role in enabling communities to reimagine their future at the center of a new climate economy and in the process build community resilience. Collaboration is key to achieving net zero. Mining companies, value chain actors, and policymakers must work together to accelerate the development, deployment, and co-investment in the technological innovations required for the mine of the future, and to develop net zero industry standards, regulations, and frameworks.
The project was commissioned by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), as part of the World Bank Group’s Climate-Smart Mining initiative
BU S3E2
No full textPhoto of Jeff Ubben, founder and portfolio manager of Inclusive Capital Partners.https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/beyond_unprecedented_podcast/1036/thumbnail.jp