Climate Change Law

Catalog description

Elective Course Enrollment Limit: 12 Course Requirement: paper This course will explore climate change laws regulations, and policies. The first part of the course will focus on US law, the second part will discuss global regulation of climate change. Thus, the course will begin with an overview of the causes and effects of climate change and the methods available to mitigate and adapt to it. Then, the course will examine how the US addresses the need to incorporate climate change into laws and regulations. Doctrinal instruction focusing on the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and relevant energy laws will provide the framework for the first part of the course. Next, the course will examine the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, its Kyoto Protocol, and successor policies. Throughout the semester, the class will evaluate the various legal tools that are available to address climate change, including cap-and-trade schemes, carbon taxation, command-and-control regulation, litigation, information disclosure, and voluntary action. Emerging policy considerations about geoengineering, ?green washing,? and urban greening will also be discussed.