Outlook 2022 - Climate

Finance Agencies’ Climate Risk Rules May Shift Capital From Fossil Fuels

Key financial regulators in the coming months are poised to require banks and publicly traded companies to detail the risks they face from climate change, a move environmentalists say is a first step to shifting funds away from high-carbon assets and activities most threatened by climate damages. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has already issued draft supervisory guidance to large banks – urging them to incorporate “physical” and “transition” climate risks into existing considerations while also...

Despite Aggressive Policies, California Not On Track For GHG, Air Goals

Despite California’s pioneering and aggressive policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and conventional air pollution, the state enters 2022 facing seemingly near-impossible odds of achieving its carbon-reduction targets and EPA’s legal mandates to attain criteria air pollution limits. “[W]hile the state has delivered on many fronts, the hard truth remains that we are no longer on track to meet our forthcoming climate goals, and even state leadership has expressed concern that we are off track,” notes F. Noel Perry, founder...

Despite Extended Timeline, 2022 May Be ‘Pivotal’ For Next Auto GHG Rule

Multiple factors in the coming year – including California’s zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) standards and the fate of proposed federal incentives for electric vehicles (EVs) – could have a major influence on EPA’s planned long-term vehicle emissions standards, observers say, even if a formal proposal might be over a year away. Plans for an aggressive multi-pollutant rule that takes effect in model year 2027 come as EPA completed its near-term auto greenhouse gas standards update in December, largely reversing the Trump-era...

After Appellate Review, High Court May Again Weigh Climate Nuisance Suits

After the Supreme Court last year directed appellate courts to conduct more rigorous reviews of whether a raft of climate change nuisance cases should be heard in state or federal courts, observers are widely expecting the high court to again grapple with the litigation after the lower courts re-assess the crucial jurisdiction issues. While municipal and state governments pursuing the cases have pressed to keep them in state courts where they were originally filed, the oil sector has pushed hard...

High Court Weighs Limiting EPA Powers In Swath Of Pending Litigation

The Supreme Court is poised to decide a slate of high-profile environmental and administrative law cases this year that could sharply limit EPA’s regulatory powers for years to come, including tests of federal authority over power plant emissions, the scope of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and mandatory reviews for major projects like pipelines. The court is in the midst of its first full term with a 6-3 conservative majority following Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation just before the 2020...

Republicans Test Climate Change Messaging Ahead Of Midterm Elections

Republicans may be in the minority on Capitol Hill in the coming year, but key lawmakers are already road-testing energy and climate messaging ahead of the November midterms in which the party is hoping to take control of one or both chambers of Congress and present an alternative to the Biden administration’s broad climate agenda. Some GOP lawmakers are seeking to forge a proactive climate stance that focuses on gaining a competitive advantage over China and Russia and driving down...

Agencies To Ramp Up Pursuit Of GHG Cuts With New Infrastructure Law

Federal agencies are poised to ramp up efforts to implement climate-friendly provisions in the new infrastructure law, including grants for electric school buses, funds to deploy electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, demonstrations of various low-carbon technologies and cleanup of abandoned oil and gas wells. Early implementation began soon after the law was enacted this past November, with agencies creating new offices and developing initial guidance for states and other interested parties, even as officials solicit input on how best to...

CEQ Faces Dueling Goals: Tighten NEPA Rules, Speed Priority Projects

The Biden administration is facing dueling goals in 2022 as it works to strengthen National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing rules and other policies that were scaled back by Trump officials while still meeting its goals to speed low-carbon and other priority projects, many of which will be funded by congressional infrastructure bills. Among other things, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) intends to complete a two-phase rulemaking for how agencies implement NEPA, measures that must thread the...

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