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% […]
by Scott Stringer and Danielle Spiegel-Feld When storm clouds gather, 62 square miles of roofs keep us dry in New York City. Unfortunately, most of the dozens of inches of rain that hit New York each year cascades into our gutters, swelling sewers and often causing raw sewage to pour into our waterways. The city […]
Vegetated, or “green,” roofs provide numerous social and environmental benefits to urban areas. Compared with conventional roofs, green roofs promote biodiversity, reduce building energy use, decrease noise, and improve the productivity of solar photovoltaic installations. They can also mitigate the urban heat island effect and reduce stormwater runoff, thereby diminishing flooding and pollution of local waterways. […]
The Caribbean hurricanes of 2017 made clear that many of the islands’ power systems are woefully unprepared to withstand the increasingly severe weather events that climate change is generating. Perhaps no island exemplified this inadequacy better than Puerto Rico; one month after hurricane Maria barreled into the island, approximately eighty percent of its population was […]
On October 31st, the Guarini Center hosted an event in collaboration with the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, as well as Tesla Inc., to examine opportunities and obstacles to deploying renewable energy powered microgrids in the Caribbean region. The workshop brought together experts from international development organizations, non-profit institutions, academia, […]
