Reducing the consumption of meat would help to improve public health and reduce harms to animals and the environment. Cities – and other forms of local government, such as counties – are well-placed to facilitate the transition toward plant-forward diets. Indeed, they are fertile grounds for progressive policies and some cities already have implemented innovative […]
In May 2020, the New York City (NYC) Mayor’s Office of Climate Resiliency (MOCR)began convening bi-weekly discussions, called the Rapid Research and Assessment (RRA)Series, between City staff and external experts in science, policy, design, engineering,communications, and planning. The goal was to rapidly develop authoritative, actionableinformation to help integrate resiliency into the City’s COVID response efforts. […]
Authors: Adalene Minelli, Sara Savarani, Danielle Spiegel-Feld & Katrina Wyman This study looks at the extent to which major cities in the United States, Australia, and Canada assess the climate impacts of densification through the environmental review process. Research indicates that greater urban density is associated with lower household greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in high […]
Constantine Kontokosta, Danielle Spiegel-Feld & Sokratis Papadopoulos Nature Energy (2020) Cities are increasingly adopting energy policies that reduce information asymmetries and knowledge gaps through data transparency, including energy disclosure and mandatory audit requirements for existing buildings. Although such audits impose non-trivial costs on building owners, their energy use impacts have not been empirically evaluated. Here […]
As the impacts of marine plastic pollution become ever more apparent, a number of states have begun calling for the development of a new international agreement to address the problem. This essay considers which jurisdictional entities should be engaged in the drafting of such an agreement if one should materialize. While nation states have traditionally […]
In April of 2019, the New York City Council passed groundbreaking legislation that caps the amount of greenhouse gases that large building owners can emit, or cause to be emitted, for free. The new law, known as Local Law 97 of 2019 (“Local Law 97”), holds great promise for reducing building energy use, which accounts […]
By Danielle Spiegel-Feld and Richard B. Stewart The landmark building-efficiency legislation passed by the City Council this month will go a long way toward meeting the city’s climate goals. But it could impose major costs on owners of large buildings. With expensive retrofits and seven-figure fines looming, the city should allow the required emissions reductions […]
By Sara Savarani and Danielle Spiegel-Feld Last week, New York followed California by becoming the second state in the country to ban single-use plastic bags. The prohibition, which was included in the state budget, has been hailed by politicians and environmentalists alike as a major victory for our neighborhoods, parks and waterways that are increasingly […]
Authors: Katrina Wyman and Danielle Spiegel-Feld City governments were an important source of environmental protection in the United States from the 1800s until well into the 1900s. However, since Congress passed a series of landmark environmental statutes in the 1970s, scholars have primarily equated environmental law with federal law. To the extent that scholars consider […]
Cities are experimenting with a range of policy and regulatory tools to reduce energy use in the building sector as a pathway to substantial carbon emission reductions. Increasingly, cities are turning to policies that reduce information asymmetries and knowledge gaps through data transparency, focusing on existing buildings and the potential to achieve up to 50% […]
