Guarini Center

Regulating Climate Change with the Clean Air Act
2013-10-13
On Wednesday, October 30, Vickie Patton ’90, general counsel of the Environmental Defense Fund and Jared Snyder, Assistant Commissioner for Air, Climate and Energy for New York State, joined Professors Richard Revesz and Richard Stewart to discuss the EPA’s efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.
In October, the Supreme Court decided to review only a narrow issue in an expansive DC Circuit Court decision on greenhouse gas regulation. The panel thought that this limited grant of certiorari was excellent news for the future of efforts to combat climate change. In particular, the Court’s decision not to take up the endangerment finding for greenhouse gases leaves intact the administration’s ability to pursue effective climate change policies through the Clean Air Act. “It’s really important the court did not grant review of the endangerment finding,” said Ms. Patton, “That’s the cornerstone.”
Nonetheless, the Court’s decision on the rule regarding Prevention of Significant Deterioration at new and modified sources could have both symbolic and practical effects on EPA’s ability to limit the harmful effects of dirtier, older, grandfathered plants that operate past their useful life.
Finally, the panel considered how EPA can most effectively address the current greenhouse gas pollution from the power sector by crafting flexible mechanisms in its current rulemaking covering existing power plants. Mr. Snyder expressed the hope that the power sector in a state can be viewed as a whole, rather than requiring regulation at the plant level. This will allow, he said, market-based mechanisms like the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initative (RGGI) to be used to control CO2 emissions.

Marshall Islands’ Minister Tony de Brum Talks about Climate Leadership from the Pacific Islands
2013-09-26
On Thursday, September 26th, Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) Senator Tony de Brum, the Minister in Assistance to the President (equivalent to a Vice President), joined Professor Paolo Galizzi’s International Environmental Law class to talk about climate change in the Pacific and their recent work to spur greater commitments in the international climate change negotiations.
Senator de Brum spoke about the Majuro Declaration on Climate Leadership, the result of an early September summit of Pacific leaders in the RMI capital. “We are not just trying to save our islands,” said Senator de Brum, “we are trying to save the entire world. If the Pacific islands disappear, then it will already be too late for everyone else.” The islands, along with Australia and New Zealand, pledged to make greater emissions reductions and expand the use of renewable energy—the Cook Islands, Niue, Tuvalu and Vanuatu will be using 100 percent renewable energy by 2020.
De Brum also talked about the climate diplomacy around the Majuro Declaration, which was presented to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon by RMI President Christopher Loeak as a complement to Moon’s efforts to build political will for accelerating climate action. The islands also met with and convinced US Secretary of State John Kerry to sign the Declaration and commit to greater, although at this point still unspecified, climate action.
The Marshall Islands, a small chain of islands in the southern Pacific, is keenly aware of the impacts of a changing climate. In the past few months, Majuro has been hit by a ‘king tide’ that crashed over a protective seawall and flooded its airport runway, while in the northern atolls there was a severe drought.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan Speaks at Workshop on Electricity Microgrids
2013-08-08
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan was at the Law School in August to discuss the President’s Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, which he chaired. His presentation was part of a workshop organized by the Frank J. Guarini Center on Environmental and Land Use Law on using microgrids to increase the resiliency of the larger electrical grid.
Microgrids are small-scale grids—usually the size of city block or university campus—that have their own generating ability (through renewable power or gas-fired generators) and which can operate when the larger grid goes down. NYU’s microgrid and generation facility provided power to NYU buildings on Washington Square Park after Hurricane Sandy when lower Manhattan was blacked out. The workshop was a part of the increased focus on energy law and policy by the Guarini Center. The energy work is being led by two new center fellows: Distinguished Senior Fellow Paul Francis ’80, former Director of New York State Agency Redesign and Efficiency, and Senior Fellow in Energy Jonathan Schrag, former Deputy Commissioner for Energy and Environment of Connecticut.
Secretary Donovan, a former fellow at NYU Law’s Furman Center on Real Estate and Urban Policy, spoke about the work of the Task Force, which released its final report a week later, and focused on the ways that NYC can rebuild to withstand storms like Hurricane Sandy. He described how the federal government had responded to the disaster, including spending billions of dollars through HUD and FEMA in the city and state. He emphasized need for the federal government to align the funding with local rebuilding efforts, and discussed the potential for using microgrids in NYC to help provide power for critical facilities when the larger grid fails.
Other workshop speakers examined how to increase the number of microgrids in urban centers like NYC, and discussed existing systems and the legal and financial barriers to new microgrids. Speakers included: ConEd President Craig Ivey; Richard Kauffman, Chairman of Energy and Finance for New York; John MacWilliams, Senior Finance Advisor to Department of Energy Secretary Moniz; Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer; Sergej Mahnovski, Director of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Long Term Planning.

Fourth Abu Dhabi Workshop on Climate Finance
2013-04-10

Green for Green: The Business and Law of Renewable Energy Finance
2013-02-15 09:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | NYU School of Law, Greenberg Lounge, 40 Washington Square South, New York, NY, 10012, United States
The Symposium will focus on the key legal, financial and policy issues involved the finance of renewable energy. What can our governments do to facilitate investment and production? What can private companies do in uncertain times? What lessons can we learn from abroad? Leaders from legal practice and academia, private investment, energy companies and all levels of government will cover these and other questions in three panel discussions. The Symposium is presented by the NYU Environmental Law Journal, the NYU Environmental Law Society, and the Frank J. Guarini Center for Land Use and Environmental Law.
Speakers include Nat Keohane (NYU School of Law; former Special Assistant to the President, National Economic Council), David Hill (NRG Energy), Reed Hundt (Coalition for Green Capital), Robert Freedman (Shearman & Sterling), Jonathan Wolfson (Solazyme), John Williams (NYSERDA), Keith Johnson (Wall St. Journal), Michael Likosky (Institute for Public Knowledge).

Aid Effectiveness for Climate-Compatible Development
2012-11-14 12:00 - 14:00 | NYU School of Law, Furman Hall, Lester Pollack Colloquium, 245 Sullivan Street, New York, NY, 10012

Rethinking Climate Change: Towards an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice
2012-02-02
On February 2, Johnson Toribiong, president of Palau and Tillman Thomas, prime minister of Grenada hosted a diplomatic reception at the law school to build support for a UN General Assembly resolution reqesting International Court of Justice advisory opinion on the legal responsibility of countries for climate change under international law. An ICJ advisory opinion may be requested by a simple majority of UN members. This effort by Palau and Grenada is in conjunction with a number of other small island countries, who are concerned about the impact of rising sea levels that are resulting from climate change.
“The truth is that nothing we or other Pacific countries do will stem the rising tides or the flood of global emissions. We need everyone to buy in or it won’t work. An ICJ advisory opinion would give us the guidance we need on what all States must do,“ said President Toribiong. “I am pleased that deliberations on a possible resolution have begun here in New York. But there is a long way to go.”
The UN General Assembly resolution is expected to be introduced in the autumn. Attending the reception along with the President and Prime Minister were their Ambassadors to the UN, Stuart Beck (of Palau) and Dessima Williams (of Grenada). They were joined by nearly 100 other UN Ambassadors, Deputy Permanent Representatives and legal advisors.
Two NYU law students and IILJ scholars, Julian Arato (’11, LL.M.’12) and Ben Heath (’11, LL.M.’12) have been assisting the Mission of Palau by providing legal advice on the issue. Since the Mission of Palau was opened in 2004, NYU law students have provided legal assistance on a number of issues, including international environmental law and law of the sea.

Third Abu Dhabi Workshop on Climate Finance
2012-01-09 - 2012-01-10
Institutions for climate finance and the new Green Climate Fund were the two main topics of discussion at the workshop on Climate Finance held in Abu Dhabi last week, hosted at the NYU Abu Dhabi campus by the Global Climate Finance Project, together with the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This was the Project’s third workshop in the UAE.
The workshop started on Monday, January 9th, bringing local UAE government officials together with an impressive group of experts drawing from academia, the World Bank, various NGOs and the private sector. The workshop heard from three panels discussing the global architecture; the new Green Climate Fund; and tracking climate finance flows. Discussion was so lively that the second day began with a panel originally intended to be on the first day: making transformative investments in climate technologies. The rest of the day was devoted to discussing a paper that will form the opening chapters of a new book on institutions for climate finance that the workshop participants will contribute to. Over the two days, participants engaged in a comprehensive discussion, identifying a number of pressing issues for resolution, areas in which further research is required, and various opportunities for both the UAE and the global community more broadly, to build an effective regime for climate finance.
After the first day of the workshop, Professor Richard Stewart, Professor Daniel Bodansky of Arizona State University and Smita Nakhooda of the Overseas Development Institute held a public discussion on “The Future of International Climate Action,” as a part of the public lectures hosted by NYU Abu Dhabi. The lecture was well attended and was followed by a spirited question and answer session and reception.

Global Warming or Nuclear Meltdown? The Future of Nuclear Power After Fukushima
2011-11-30
Richard Stewart, University Professor and John Edward Sexton Professor of Law, moderated the November 30 Milbank Tweed Forum. Titled “Global Warming or Nuclear Meltdown? The Future of Nuclear Power After Fukushima,” the discussion took on issues ranging from fears of nuclear proliferation to the recent crisis at the Fukushima plant in Japan, and, on the plus side, whether nuclear power can provide stable, secure, low-carbon electricity and curb climate change. Panelists included Michael Levi, a senior fellow and director of the program on energy security and climate change at the Council of Foreign Relations; William McCollum, chief operating officer of the Tennessee Valley Authority, which operates three nuclear and 11 coal-fired plants; and Christopher Paine, nuclear program director for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
In his introduction to the discussion, Stewart, who is also the director of the Frank J. Guarini Center on Environmental and Land Use Law, noted that nearly all of the nuclear plants in the U.S. started construction before 1975 and that “ten years ago one would have said that the nuclear industry is moribund, there are not going to be any more new plants in the United States.” Then, he noted, “there was a change in direction and attitude” due to growth in energy demand, rising energy prices, concerns about energy security, and global warming. “There was talk in the 2005 era of a U.S. nuclear renaissance,” Stewart said. But, he added, “at this point the bloom is somewhat off the renaissance,” because of a drop in electric demand caused by the recession and safety concerns raised by the Fukushima incident. Additionally, Stewart noted, the U.S. has not figured out how it will dispose of its nuclear waste — the subject of his most recent book. “There’s a complex web of economic and environmental and security, as well as political and legal issues here,” he said.
Watch the full video of the event (1 h 13 min)

Dialogue on the Trade Dimensions of Rio+20
2011-10-03
The green economy within the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication is one of the themes of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), held in Brazil in 2012. The trade dimension of sustainable development and the green economy have so far attracted a more limited attention despite the importance of the issues and concerns related to green protectionism, technology transfer and the existing framework of multilateral rules within which any sustainable development policy is set.
Chapter 2 of Agenda 21 stipulates that trade, environment and development policies should be mutually supportive. The green economy has emerged as a potential new paradigm and an enabling tool to advance sustainable development. In that sense, it may have the potential to provide new trade and investment impetus to developing country economies. The green economy, through trade-led growth, could become a pro-development income-generating instrument that will directly contribute to achieving sustainable development, as set out at the 1992 Rio Summit. However, there are key conditions for a green economy to become a vehicle for sustainable development and areas where international action could promote an inclusive, broad-based and equitable transition towards a green economy. The Rio outcome should play an important role in advancing this agenda.

Serge Lepeltier, French Ambassador for Climate Negotiations, Holds Climate Discussions at NYU
2011-09-20
After having been on campus with French Minister for Ecology, Nathalie Kozcuisko-MOrizet, Serge Lepeltier, the French Ambassador for Climate Negotiations returned with his climate advisors from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss climate finance in the lead up to the Durban climate conference. Participating were professors and fellows from NYU and its research partners, World Resources Institute and Environmental Defense Fund.

Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, French Minister for Ecology, Discusses New Sources of Climate Finance
2011-04-11
French Minister for Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transport, and Housing Nathalie Koscuisko-Morizet was the lead speaker at “From Fast-Start to Long-Term Finance for Climate Protection: The Need for New Funding Sources,” a panel discussion held April 11 at NYU Law on mobilizing international finance to combat climate change. Other participants included Assistant U.N. Secretary General for Policy and Planning Robert Orr; Jennifer Haverkamp, director of the International Climate Program at the Environmental Defense Fund, University Professor Richard Stewart; and other climate finance experts.
Minister Koscuisko-Morizet announced that the French government will make financing for climate and development a priority when it hosts the G20/G8 later this year. Assistant Secretary General Orr emphasized that significant new sources of international public and private finance will be required to meet the $100 billion annual Cancun target for climate financing for developing countries. The minister proposed innovative levies on international financial transactions and international maritime and aviation transport and leveraging private climate investment while also building climate-based development aid.
Following the public panel, a small private workshop was held on climate finance issues and opportunities in the upcoming international meetings and U.S. climate regulation. Participants included the panelists, the French ambassador to the United States, the French ambassador for climate change negotiations, the deputy governor of the Banque de France, and additional experts.

Second Abu Dhabi Workshop on Climate Finance
2011-01-21

On Thin Ice: International Law and Environmental Protection in a Melting Arctic
2010-10-23
On October 22, NYU School of Law hosted the Sixteenth Annual Herbert Rubin and Justice Rose Luttan Rubin International Law Symposium, titled “On Thin Ice: International Law and Environmental Protection In a Melting Arctic.”
After introductory remarks by Herbert Rubin ’42, founder of Herzfeld & Rubin, and José Alvarez, who is Herbert and Rose Rubin Professor of International Law, the keynote lecture was delivered by Peter Taksøe-Jensen, the Danish ambassador to the United States and former United Nations assistant secretary general for legal affairs. Taksøe-Jensen described the current state of the Artic Ocean, and the potential for changes in access to the region. During summer months, Taksøe-Jensen said, more and more ice is melting each year. This is creating uncharted waters in the arctic region, allowing for potential new trade routes, tourism, and migration of marine life. One of the consequences is a new tension between the countries that border the Arctic as they plan for regulating this new area.
The first panel delved further into Taksøe-Jensen’s introduction, setting its sights on recent changes in the Arctic region and the responses of various nations to those changes. Moderator Peter Miljanich ’11, editor-in-chief of the Environmental Law Journal, paced the discussion, which featured: Betsy Baker, an assistant professor at Vermont Law School; Lisa Speer, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s International Oceans Program; and Ross Virginia, Myers Family Professor of Environmental Science at Dartmouth College. Panel two, moderated by NYU Journal of International Law and Politics Symposium Editor Margaret Graham ’11, discussed the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Professor Katrina Wyman moderated the third and final panel, which explored the domestic and international approaches to conserving the diverse and vulnerable marine ecosystems in the Arctic region from the increasing threats of overfishing, ship strikes, and pollution from new commercial activities.
Watch the opening keynote
Watch the first panel

Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action, Holds Roundtable
2010-09-23
On September 23, the Global Climate Finance Project at NYU Law hosted a consultative workshop on climate finance with Connie Hedegaard, the European commissioner for climate action. Hedegaard discussed issues relating to climate finance with a group of NYU professors and fellows, as well as colleagues from Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Environmental Defense Fund, the Peterson Institute for Economics, the World Resources Institute, and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
Climate finance (the provision of public and private funds to finance climate mitigation and adaptation) is at the heart of the ongoing international climate discussions. A global deal on climate change will not be achieved without developed and developing countries agreeing on the amount, sources, and governance arrangements for climate finance. The commissioner emphasized the importance of effectively delivering the $30 billion in “fast-start finance” pledged in the Copenhagen Accord last year as a means of building trust between developed and developing countries, and promoting the legitimacy of ongoing negotiations.
Hedegaard confirmed the E.U.’s conviction that market forces, such as domestic cap-and-trade systems, will play a crucial role in addressing climate change. Participants discussed how to link domestic cap-and-trade markets in the future, particularly as the political process in each country was likely to lead to the emergence of several markets with very different design features. A number of participants were pessimistic that U.S. cap-and-trade legislation would be passed in the near future, and discussed the possibility of other avenues for regulation and harmonization.
The workshop engaged in lively debate on a number of other contentious issues, including the institutions and MRV structures for climate finance, the use of border carbon adjustments, the U.S. domestic political obstacles to implementing proposed international levies (for example, on bunker fuels), and the role of corporations in the current climate change negotiations and in any future climate finance regime.

Carbon Capture & Storage Global Legal Symposium
2010-03-15
On March 15, legal scholars and practitioners, along with engineers, geologists, and policy makers, came together at the Law School for the two-day Carbon Capture & Storage Global Legal Symposium. CCS, as it is known, aims to combat global climate change by trapping carbon dioxide emissions from places such as refineries and factories, and, then sequestering it underground. Each step of the process–capture, transportation, and storage–raises legal and regulatory issues, and these were the subject of the symposium. The gathering drew participants from around the world, and served as a forum for the International Energy Agency to unveil a model CCS legal and regulatory framework.
The principal organizers of the symposium were Richard Stewart and Richard Macrory. Stewart is a University Professor; John Edward Sexton Professor of Law; chair and faculty director of the Hauser Global Law School Program; and director of the Frank J. Guarini Center on Environmental Law and Land Use Law. Macrory, a professor of environmental law at University College London Faculty of Laws (UCL), is also currently a senior global research fellow at the Hauser Global Law School. The Guarini Center and UCL jointly sponsored the symposium, along with the Global CCS Institute of Australia.

Honorable Penny Wong, Minister for Climate Change and Water (Australia)
2009-09-21
The Honourable Penny Wong, Senator for South Australia and Australia’s Minister for Climate Change and Water, visited NYU School of Law September 21, 2009 to discuss the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. The event, hosted by the Frank J. Guarini Center on Environmental and Land Use Law and the Environmental Law Society, gave students and faculty a chance to hear first hand Australia’s plan for an international political agreement to fight climate change.
In preparation for December’s Copenhagen conference, where the United Nations hoped to come to an agreement on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, Wong, Australia’s first Minister for Climate Change and Water, introduced a plan that would allow nations to construct a climate change plan that fits their national circumstances within the framework of an overarching agreement. The plan would move away from the strict compliance regime of the Kyoto Protocol, hoping to reach a strong environmental outcome while permitting flexibility of actions over time, allowing for the unique conditions each nation faces, and supporting a range of solutions. “A sound vehicle will steer us toward broad participation and strong ambition,” said Wong, who was in New York for the Secretary-General’s High Level Meeting on Climate Change at the United Nations General Assembly this week. “A flawed vehicle will drive countries away from global cooperation.”
Under Australia’s proposed plan, nations would utilize “national schedules” to come to a world-wide agreement, which could be renegotiated to become more environmentally effective over time. A schedule might include plans for emissions targets, reducing deforestation, and developing clean energy. “Commitments won’t be one-size-fits-all,” said Wong. “They will be differentiated, and the actions countries take to fulfill those commitments will be varied in nature, reflecting different national circumstances.” The schedules will help in negotiations, allowing developing countries to ease themselves into the climate change fight, while developed countries would be expected to set more ambitious economy-wide emission reduction targets. This approach, according to Wong, is compatible with a number of other major official proposals submitted to the U.N. “Ideally, each country would put forward its own draft national schedule [in advance of Copenhagen],” said Wong. “The international community could examine schedules to determine if efforts were sufficiently ambitious, and if not, call for and negotiate increased efforts.”
After her speech, Wong fielded questions from faculty and students during a discussion led by Adjunct Professor Jacob Werksman, who is also the director of the Institutions and Governance Program at the World Resources Institute. Wong reiterated the importance of reaching an agreement in Copenhagen. “This is where the role of leaders is so important,” she said. “This agreement absolutely can be done. It’s a question of whether people have the political will to cut that deal.”

Abu Dhabi Conference on Climate Change: Financing Green Development
2009-05-03 - 2009-05-05
This conference, held May 3-5 in Abu Dhabi was focussed on building robust and workable climate finance mechanisms that will secure developing country participation, support sustainable development, and leverage cost-effective solutions to mitigating climate change. Successfully meeting the challenge of climate change is not only an environmental imperative, but also a huge economic challenge as well as potential economic opportunity. It will require both a new global agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol and new financial arrangements to generate swift large-scale investments in mitigation efforts—by 2030, an additional USD 100 billion annually will be required for mitigation in developing countries. Yet the financial mechanisms that currently exist as part of the UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol and elsewhere are not up to the task of delivering either this level of funds or associated technologies in ways that will successfully engage developing countries and further their development.
This conference addressed the structure, regulation, and governance of the various existing and proposed new forms of climate mitigation finance, with a focus on their implications for developing countries. The conference engaged a select group of high level developing and developed country policy-makers and academics, representatives of the climate finance industry, multinational businesses, international organizations, and NGOs.
