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EPA Releases Updated, Elevated Estimates for the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases

Posted on January 25, 2024

Posted in Air Quality and Climate Change

William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building In Washington DC

New report raises social cost of carbon estimates, surpassing previous estimates by more than 250%.

By Joshua Bledsoe, Kevin Homrighausen, and John Detrich

On December 2, 2023, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a final report that substantially increases estimates of the social cost of greenhouse gases (GHG), including carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide (collectively, SC-GHG). The report describes SC-GHG as “the monetary value of the net harm to society from emitting one metric ton of that GHG into the atmosphere in a given year.”[1] The new estimates are intended to serve as a tool for decision-makers, aiding in the cost-benefit analysis of actions that would reduce or increase GHG emissions. Indeed, federal agencies are expected to use the estimates in future rule-makings and in the environmental review of forthcoming projects.

President Biden Signs Executive Order on Climate-Related Financial Risk

Posted on May 24, 2021

Posted in Air Quality and Climate Change, Environmental Regulation, Environmental, Social, and Governance

The order is a key lever in the Biden Administration’s climate agenda and puts the US closer in step with developments in Europe.

By Paul A. Davies and Andra Troy*

On May 20, 2021, President Joe Biden signed into effect an Executive Order on Climate-Related Financial Risk (Executive Order) aimed at addressing the threat that climate change poses to US financial stability. The Executive Order requires federal agencies, including financial regulators, to undertake work to advance clear and comparable disclosure of climate-related financial risks and act to mitigate such risk and its drivers.

The Biden Administration has taken a number of actions to enact a “whole of government” approach to climate change, including re-entering the Paris Agreement and directing every governmental agency to address environmental justice, the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions, clean energy financing, and more.

“The intensifying impacts of climate change present physical risk to assets, publicly traded securities, private investments, and companies,” said President Biden in the Executive Order. “The failure of financial institutions to appropriately and adequately account for and measure these physical and transition risks threatens the competitiveness of US companies and markets, the life savings and pensions of US workers and families, and the ability of US financial institutions to serve communities.” The Executive Order’s whole of government instruction for a government-wide climate-risk strategy calls for identifying the public and private means to achieving net carbon neutrality by 2050.

White House Rescinds Trump Climate-Related NEPA Guidance

Posted on February 23, 2021

Posted in Environmental Regulation, Environmental, Social, and Governance

Biden Administration elevates consideration of GHG emissions and climate change in federal agency approvals by rescinding Trump guidance and reviving Obama guidance.

by Janice M. Schneider, Stacey L. VanBelleghem, and Devin M. O’Connor

On February 19, 2021, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) published a Federal Register Notice rescinding the June 2019 “Draft National Environmental Policy Act Guidance on Consideration of Greenhouse Gas Emissions” (2019 Draft GHG Guidance) issued by the Trump Administration. This action, directed by President Biden’s Executive Order 13990, “Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis” (January 20 EO), reinstates Obama Administration policy and requires further review and updating on how greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the effects of climate change are considered in environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

EPA Begins Term With Congressional Mandate to Phase Down HFCs

Posted on February 19, 2021

Posted in Environmental Litigation, Environmental Regulation

The agency’s rulemaking to implement the AIM Act will offer stakeholders opportunities to shape a new market-based mechanism to reduce HFCs.

By Jean-Philippe Brisson, Stacey VanBelleghem, and Zaheer Tajani

Tucked inside the US$900 billion COVID-19 relief package signed into law on December 27, 2020, is a regulatory opportunity for the climate-focused Biden Administration: the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2020 (the AIM Act). The AIM Act requires the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop an allowance trading system to aggressively phase down the production and consumption of certain chemical refrigerants, called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), throughout the United States.

ESG in 2021: 10 Things to Look Out For

Posted on January 7, 2021

Posted in Environmental, Social, and Governance

A range of ESG policy, social, and technological developments are poised to impact companies and investors in the coming year.

By Paul A. Davies, Nicola Higgs, Sophie Lamb QC, Ryan J. Maierson, Colleen C. Smith, Michael D. Green, and Edward R. Kempson

Despite concerns early in 2020 that the pandemic would impact the growth of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives, the opposite proved to be the case with political and investor momentum aligning and ESG initiatives surging in the climate of “building back better”. This growth will likely accelerate in 2021, particularly as leading economies and financial centres in the US, China, the EU, and the UK make political and legislative commitments focused on ESG and investors double down on their ESG demands.

This second instalment of Latham’s annual 10 Things to Look Out For blog post highlights ESG-related developments and trends to anticipate in 2021.

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EPA Begins Term With Congressional Mandate to Phase Down HFCs

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