Skip to main content

New and Notable Additions

LPDD September Newsletter

New External Resources

modelclimatelaws.org is being continually updated with new, external legal resources. Below is a selection of recently added resources.

  • California Embodied Carbon Building Code: In August, the California Building Standards Commission approved amendments to the state's green building code, requiring developers to limit the amount of carbon "embodied" in new or remodeled large commercial buildings. This code is the first of its kind in the nation. The changes, which will take effect in July 2024, target the greenhouse gas emissions from building materials like concrete, steel, insulation and wood. Until 2026, the requirements will apply to new commercial buildings that are 100,000 square feet or larger, and new public schools that are 50,000 square feet or larger. After that, the updated code applies to all new commercial buildings that are at least 50,000 square feet. Projects can choose from three alternative compliance paths to meet new standards. The first calls for the reuse of at least 45% of an existing structure, the second requires the use of materials that fall within specified emission limits, and the third is a performance-based compliance path that allows the use of a whole building life cycle assessment analysis.
  • California Endorses Fossil-Fuel Nonproliferation Treaty: Through SJR 2, passed in September, the California legislature made a show of public support for an international Fossil Fuel Nonproliferation Treaty. The resolution supports a global framework for managing fossil fuel production, first by stopping its expansion and then phasing out coal, oil, and gas. It also looks to protect the most impacted workers and local government services through the energy transition. The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty was formally called for by Vanuatu at COP 27, in addition to public endorsements from the World Health Organization, the European Parliament, the Vatican, and over 70 cities and subnational governments. Model language is available at this link for other subnational governments to offer similar support.
  • Colorado Executive Order Links Housing and Climate:  An August Executive Order out of Colorado declares that it is state policy to align Colorado's population growth with climate, water and other goals by reducing sprawl, encouraging denser communities and promoting mass transit. The order directs state agencies to inventory their housing policies and recommend ways to align them with the state’s climate and other strategic goals, to be outlined in a report due Dec. 15.
  • Colorado's Building Performance Standard Regulation Adopted: In accordance with HB 1286 (2021), in August, the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission adopted rules enacting a building performance standard for large buildings. The rules aim to cut building emissions seven percent below 2021 levels by 2026 and 20 percent by 2030. The building performance standards rule applies to about 8,000 buildings in Colorado. Owners of buildings that do not meet the standards will have a suite of compliance options to explore, including optimizing energy use in the building, repairing or replacing inefficient equipment or systems, installing efficient electric appliances and heating and cooling equipment, or using renewable energy.
  • Rhode Island Preemptively Adopts 2024 IECC Codes: In August, Rhode Island enacted legislation requiring the adoption of the 2024 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) for new residential and commercial buildings once the codes are finalized later this year, becoming the first state to do so. The state building code standards committee is also directed to adopt the 2024 IECC’s “electric readiness” provisions within one year.
  • ACEEE Report on States Using IRA and BIL Money for Efficiency: This summer, ACEEE put out a new report examing efficiency incentives put forward by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). It identifies a variety of opportunities and options for integrating utility and state programs with the federal programs and tax credits.

Spotlight on Equity: In Pennsylvania, the state has rolled out a new Environmental Justice (EJ) mapping tool, called PennEnviroScreen, which combines Pollution Burden and Population Characteristics data in order to identify EJ areas and inform public participation in the permitting process of proposed facilities. On September 16th, the state will release an updated EJ policy, with an emphasis on proactive community engagement, advancing public participation, and investment in EJ communities.

LPDD at the National Conference for State Legislatures Annual Meeting

Last month, Karla Perri and Bennett Byerly represented the LPDD project at the Annual Meeting of the National Conference for State Legislatures in Indianapolis. We were thrilled to have had the opportunity to speak to 100+ legislators, their staff, and representatives from NGOs and think tanks. As the only climate-related organization at the event, we found more interest in our work than we could handle!

Our team had two major takeaways from this trip to Indianapolis. First, there is a huge potential demand for LPDD's existing offerings. The LPDD model of providing smart, nonpartisan legislative options to address every area of decarbonization has a clear market. Even legislators and staffers who were not predisposed to pursue decarbonization policies could see value in models that addressed issues such as state clean energy workforce development and permitting reforms.

Second, there is demand for LPDD to offer more in the future. We heard again and again that there is demand for our model laws to be supplemented by supporting tools like state policy gap analyses, tailored recommendations, briefings/webinars, and legislative support to help advance the model laws our team has drafted. As LPDD grows, the lessons learned from last month will help guide our efforts to expand our outreach and offerings.

Project Profiles

Every other month, we like to highlight attorneys working on this project, to recognize their service, and call attention to the quality of expertise and scholarship behind LPDD.

This month, we're highlighting project co-founder Professor Michael Gerrard from Columbia Law School, where he founded the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Professor Gerrard is an advocate, litigator, teacher, and scholar who is recognized as a national expert in the legal tools and strategies for addressing climate change. In addition to co-editing with John Dernbach the seminal book, Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States, Professor Gerrard has spearheaded the LPDD model law project based on that text, and seen modelclimatelaws.org grow to a vast database of model legal approaches to deep decarbonization. As a chapter author on Utility-Scale Renewables in the LPDD text, Professor Gerrard brings deep expertise on permitting questions, which have only grown more relevant in recent years. He subsequently coordinated and peer-reviewed our package of eight federal permitting reforms, which were published earlier this year.

For three decades, before joining the Columbia Law School faculty in 2009, Professor Gerrard practiced law in New York, most recently as the partner in charge of the New York office of Arnold & Porter.  A prolific author, he has written or edited 14 books, including Global Climate Change and U.S. Law, which saw its third edition published this year. He formerly chaired the faculty of Columbia's Earth Institute and now has a joint appointment to its successor, the Columbia Climate School. His impact has been particularly keen in the state of New York, where he has published and presented on the state's decarbonization efforts, including siting provisions for renewable energy, environmental justice legislation, equity in the transportation sector, and the state's pending cap-and-invest plans. He'll next be speaking on global climate litigation trends during NYC's Climate Week.

Professor Gerrard is the former chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources. He has also chaired the New York City Bar Association’s Executive Committee and the New York State Bar Association’s environmental law section. He has served on the executive committees of the boards of the Environmental Law Institute and the American College of Environmental Lawyers.

As the LPDD project grows and expands, Professor Gerrard's passion and expertise will be the foundation of our continued success as an organization. We are grateful for his leadership.

In the News

Sometimes, we come across news stories that highlight the value of the resources we already promote at modelclimatelaws.org. Here are a few from the last month:

Get Involved!

Not sure how to support our work? Check out our Get Involved page to see the many avenues by which lawyers can join us, and get in contact!

This update highlights and summarizes recent additions to the Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization (LPDD) website, which houses actual and model laws addressing the causes of climate change in the United States.

The Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization Model Law Project (LPDD-MLP) is a pro bono effort to draft model laws for use by legislators at the federal, state and local levels to support their efforts to achieve deep reductions in fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions. The project is based on recommendations from the groundbreaking book Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States (Michael Gerrard and John C. Dernbach, eds., 2019). The work is supported by Columbia University's Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and Widener University Commonwealth Law School’s Environmental Law and Sustainability Center. Dozens of law firms and individual lawyers are contributing to this pro-bono effort as drafters, peer reviewers or in reaching out to policymakers.

Our website, modelclimatelaws.org, contains over 75 model laws that are a starting place for discussion and collaboration among elected officials, non-profit groups, and the private sector for enabling the U.S. to address climate change by reducing U.S. GHG emissions to zero by 2050 or earlier. The site includes several Top 10 lists for some of the key categories, like electric vehicles, PUC’s, buildings and other topics as a short-hand introduction. In addition, the site references hundreds of other actions that states and other governmental bodies have taken to move towards decarbonization more rapidly. By providing policymakers the tools to achieve deep decarbonization, the Project will help achieve a restructuring of the energy economy, thus alleviating the worst effects of climate change, which are disproportionately suffered by marginalized communities, while providing such positive benefits as economic security, social equity, and environmental justice (EJ).

Please contact us to talk about getting involved in drafting and peer reviewing legislation, to provide suggestions and feedback on the drafts and to talk about how we can help you support your climate change efforts.

← All news