By Daniel P. Brunton, Lucas I. Quass, and Stephanie L. Postal
CEQA Case Report: Understanding the Judicial Landscape for Development [i]
In a published opinion issued March 15, 2018, Don’t Cell Our Parks v. City of San Diego, the California Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s judgment and upheld the City of San Diego’s (the City’s) determination that a wireless communications facility (the Project) qualified for a categorical exemption for new small facilities under CEQA. In summary, the court determined:
- Exhaustion of administrative remedies is not required if the agency did not hold a public hearing or otherwise provide an opportunity for members of the public to raise objections.
- A standalone utility can qualify under the Class 3 exemption.
- For the location exception to CEQA exemptions to apply, a location impacted by a project must be designated as an environmental resource of hazardous or critical concern by an agency.
The petitioner, a non-profit entity (Petitioner), had filed an unsuccessful petition for writ of mandate seeking to overturn the approval of development and use permits for the Project. Petitioner argued that the City’s determination that the Project was exempt from environmental review under the Class 3 exemption was erroneous because, as a standalone utility, the Project would not qualify for a Class 3 exemption. Petitioner also argued that, even if the Project fell within the Class 3 exemption, an environmental impact report (EIR) would be required because the unusual circumstances exception and location exception applied . The court rejected each of these arguments.
By the end of 2018, the European Commission will set up an Innovation Fund (the Fund) to aid decarbonisation. To achieve this, the European Commission will amend the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) Directive via a delegated act. The EU ETS was created to reduce carbon emissions and incentivise companies to reduce their output, and covers around 45% of the EU’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Entities with access to the Fund from 2021 to 2030 (phase 4 of EU ETS) will include power and energy-intensive industrial sectors.
China’s carbon emissions increased by 4% in the first quarter of 2018 — marking the biggest hike in carbon emissions in the last seven years, according to an article published by China Economic Review. Increased industrial activity is due in large part to the government’s financial support of furnaces and kilns meant to stimulate the economy. However, industrial growth could prevent China from achieving its Paris Agreement targets, despite the country’s reduction in coal use and commitment to promoting renewable forms of energy.
The European Commission (EC) has set out its first proposal for “concrete actions” to help the EU financial sector take the lead in establishing a greener economy and supporting the Paris Agreement. These legislative proposals, which were published on 24 May 2018, follow the release of the EC’s Action Plan on sustainable finance on 8 March 2018 (more information on the Action Plan is available in 
China’s water supply problems are well-known globally. However, the main problem facing China is how to distribute its water, rather than lack of water per se. 80% of China’s water supply lies in southern China. But this water cannot be used by the population of 12 Chinese provinces representing 41% of its total population, 38% of Chinese agriculture, 46% of its industry, and 50% of its power generation. Eight of these provinces are currently experiencing acute water scarcity, while in four provinces water is merely “scarce,” and two provinces are largely desert. Moreover, the problem is getting worse, with 28,000 rivers in China having dried up over the past 25 years. And China’s appetite for water continues to grow, with consumption forecast to rise to 670 billion cubic meters a year by the early 2020s.
Third parties and local NGOs often bring legal action against environmental permits in France, hampering the development of environmental projects in the country. An example of a practical consequence is that the development of a wind farm takes on average between seven and nine years in France, versus three to four years in Germany. In order to limit the impact of drawn-out legal proceedings before administrative courts and allow projects to progress, a 
The European Commission (EC) has referred the UK, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, and Romania to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for failing to adequately tackle and control air pollution in their respective jurisdictions. The Member States, the EC said, had not produced and delivered “credible, effective and timely measures to reduce pollution as soon as possible, as required under EU law”. The EC had already issued these Member States with a warning in January 2018. Polluted and toxic air is thought to cause over 400,000 early deaths each year in Europe. The actions against the UK, France, and Germany concern exceedances of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), while the actions against Hungary, Italy, and Romania target particulate matter (PM10).
In April 2018, the Marine Environmental Protection Committee of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted an 
The UK government has announced a consultation in relation to the proposed new Environmental Principles and Governance Bill, which aims to ensure maintained and strengthened environmental protection following the UK’s exit from the EU. While this particular consultation, which was announced on 10 May, relates to England, the government has indicated that it will “… work closely with devolved administrations on common frameworks”. The government’s intention is to “… ensure we leave our environment in a better state than we inherited it”. The planned publication date for the Bill is this autumn.