Posted on June 21, 2011 by David Wagner

In Case You Missed It, Here Are Slides and Audio from Reed Smith's June 16 Climate Change Event

This post was written by David Wagner.

Last week, we discussed recent international and U.S. developments related to greenhouse gas regulation, and here are the slides and audio from the event. In particular, we addressed:

  • How the uncertain future of the Kyoto Protocol and the Clean Development Mechanism affect U.S. business (You can also find details on this issue here)
  • What your business needs to know for compliance and planning related to step 2 of USEPA's greenhouse gas Tailoring Rule
  • Implications of the court's "cap and trade" ruling in Association of Irritated Residents v. California Air Resources Board
  • Developments in state courts including upcoming decisions on insurers' obligation to defend and/or indemnify covered insureds for public nuisance, and other types of claims based on third-party allegations of damages from climate change
     
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Posted on June 3, 2011 by David Wagner

Reed Smith's Quarterly Climate Change Regulatory Teleseminar is on June 16

This post was written by David Wagner.

It's time for Reed Smith's (free) quarterly climate change report. Please join us via telephone on Thursday, June 16, 2011 from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. EDT for a regulatory update on significant international, national and state issues concerning climate change and the future of greenhouse gas regulation. The topics are:

  • International update: how the fate of the Clean Development Mechanism and the Kyoto Protocol affect U.S. business
  • USEPA's greenhouse gas Tailoring Rule - Step 2: what your business needs to know for compliance and planning
  • Implications of the court's "cap and trade" ruling in Association of Irritated Residents v. Cal. Air Resources Board
  • State court update: upcoming decisions on insurers' obligation to defend and/or indemnify covered insureds for public nuisance, and other types of claims based on third-party allegations of damages from climate change
     

If you would like to attend this teleseminar, please email Sandy Petrakis.

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Posted on March 12, 2010 by David Wagner

Recent Reforms to UN's Clean Development Mechanism

This was written by Jennifer Smokelin and David  Wagner.

Overshadowed by the activities in the final few days at the Copenhagen climate change conference, the UN agreed to revise some elements of its Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Despite ongoing concerns about the long-term (post-2012) future of CDM, these reforms are significant.

Perhaps most significantly, the CDM reforms direct the CDM Executive Board to establish new procedures for stakeholders to appeal decisions. This on the heels of the CDM Executive Board’s controversial recent decision to reject applications from ten Chinese wind energy projects. The Executive Board has also been granted permission to streamline registration and issuance procedures for emission reduction projects and provide new funding to accelerate the development of CDM projects in countries with fewer than ten CDM approved projects in operation. Following a number of investigations which found that some of the firms tasked with independently verifying that CDM projects deliver real emission cuts had been cutting corners, the reforms also call for an improved system of “continuous performance monitoring” of these third-party certifiers.

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