The geopolitical context effectuated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine complicates the European Parliament’s (EP) July 6, 2022, vote to include natural gas and nuclear energy in the European Union’s (EU) taxonomy for sustainable activities (green taxonomy)—effectively incentivizing private investment in the energy sources.
A practical, bipartisan call to action from the world’s leading thinkers on the environment and sustainability
In an interview with The Economist, Center Director Dan Esty, highlights how policy “red lights” must be trasformed to “green lights” that drive innovation with incentives that engage the world’s entrepreneurs, financial markets and creative spirits in the pursuit of a net-zero future. This philosphy is expanded upon and highlighted in the recently released book “A Better Planet: 40 Big Ideas for a Sustainable Future”.
Read the interview here.
Buy A Better Planet: 40 Big Ideas for a Sustainable Future here.
The recently released 2022 EPI highlights the leaders and laggards in the fight against climate change. Denmark and the UK, taking the #1 and #2 spot in the ranking, have emerged as the only leaders on track for net-zero emissions by 2050. The U.S. has tumbled in the ranking, largely due to the climate inaction of the Trump Administration. For the first time, India has secured the last spot in environmental performance.
Read New York Times coverage: Trump Policies Sent U.S. Tumbling in a Climate Ranking.
Read Washington Post coverage: Denmark, U.K. on track for net-zero emissions by 2050 as U.S. lags
Read Hindustan Times coverage: India’s lagging sustainability performance
The Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy (YCELP) and Columbia University’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) recently released their 2022 Environmental Performance Index (EPI), ranking 180 countries across a variety of indicators that represent a cross-section of environmental priorities. This biennial report is intended to facilitate data-driven policymaking by providing an in-depth snapshot of a country’s sustainability and allowing for its progress in the field to be charted.
Center Director Dan Esty and Professor Don Elliott provide a brief description of their collaborative book, Advanced Introduction to U.S. Environmental Law (2021), in the above video. In the words of Professor Esty, this text “provides an opportunity to retrospectively review where U.S. environmental law’s come from, what strategies and policy options have been deployed, and… a pretty clear-eyed view of what we think has worked and what hasn’t worked so well.” The book is interactive and structured to facilitate input, and we encourage readers to share their thoughts here.
Hillhouse Professor of Environmental Law and Policy
Yale School of the Environment and Yale Law School
As we pass the new administration’s hundred-day mark, advocates across civil society have witnessed a paradigm shift in environmental policy at the federal level. Within just its first few days, the new administration set the stage for sweeping changes to how climate change is governed at both the national and international levels.
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued a final rule that imposed new limits on proxy voting for private employee benefit plans’ fiduciaries.
In an interview with Benji Backer, President and Founder of The Conservation Coalition, Center Director Dan Esty discusses how to bring our country together to rally around climate action.
Watch the interview here or listen to it on Spotify here.
