Professor John C. Dernbach’s book on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has spurred creation of a new website providing model laws for federal, state and local governments to use in pursuit of a sustainable future.
The Model Laws for Deep Decarbonization in the United States website launched last week. It was created by Widener University Commonwealth Law School’s Environmental Law and Sustainability Center and Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law.
This website was inspired by the book , Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States, co-edited by Dernbach and Michael B. Gerrard, Faculty Director of the Sabin Center and a professor at Columbia Law School. The book was published in 2019 by the Environmental Law Institute and features work by 59 authors. Funding for development of this website was generously supported by the Andrew Sabin Family Foundation.
“While the Coronavirus pandemic is rightly consuming enormous public attention right now, our hope is that in the near future the challenge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions will be met with the same energy and commitment,” said Dernbach, a professor of environmental law and sustainability at Widener Commonwealth Law and director of its Environmental Law and Sustainability Center.
Dernbach added that he and Gerrard are “stubbornly optimistic” that the United States can rise to face climate change crisis.
The new website provides 1,500 model laws that would help governments achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions. The laws range in subject matter that includes:
- Enabling construction of renewable energy facilities,
- Improving energy efficiencies in new and existing construction;
- Installing electric vehicle-charging stations;
- Producing low-carbon gaseous and liquid fuels; and
- Reducing emissions of such pollutants as methane, black carbon, and fluorinated gases.
Dernbach said the website will be continually updated as new laws are enacted and model laws are created, and that more than 20 law firms are currently working on a pro bono basis to draft model laws that will be posted on this site after peer review.
