The parliamentarians around the world find themselves faced with a major task of developing wise and effective climate legislation, which can maintain the world on course with the goals set by the Paris Agreement of 2015. Using legislation,the parliaments must hold the government firm on an overall climate goal. They must approve the laws that are a prerequisite for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and create an understanding among their respective voters for the measures deemed necessary to contribute to the solution to the challenge of climate change. Unfortunately, there is no blueprint and definitive answer to the question of what constitutes good climate legislation. Fortunately, however, there are now many experiences upon which we can draw in order to reduce the risk that ambitions for good climate laws are not fulfilled. In this handbook for parliamentarians, Steen Gade, former MP in Denmark and former member of the Nordic Council, has collected some of the experiences of climate legislation and parliamentary climate work that has been carried out in the Nordic countries so far. The book contains some advice and tips on how to become a climate clever parliamentarian. The Nordic Council decided to publish this book in the hope that both current and future generations of parliamentarians in the Nordic countries, as well as in other countries, will be inspired and benefit from it, in the effort to limit the dangerous effects of global climate change.

Winner of the Julia Ward Howe Prize “The gripping story of the most important environmental law case ever decided by the Supreme Court.” —Scott Turow “In the tradition of A Civil Action, this book makes a compelling story of the court fight that paved the way for regulating the emissions now overheating the planet. It offers a poignant reminder of how far we’ve come—and how far we still must go.” —Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature On an unseasonably warm October morning, an idealistic young lawyer working on a shoestring budget for an environmental organization no one had heard of hand-delivered a petition to the Environmental Protection Agency, asking it to restrict greenhouse gas emissions from new cars. The Clean Air Act authorized the EPA to regulate “any air pollutant” thought to endanger public health. But could carbon dioxide really be considered a harmful pollutant? And even if the EPA had the authority to regulate emissions, could it be forced to do so? The Rule of Five tells the dramatic story of how Joe Mendelson and the band of lawyers who joined him carried his case all the way to the Supreme Court. It reveals how accident, infighting, luck, superb lawyering, politics, and the arcane practices of the Supreme Court collided to produce a legal miracle. The final ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA, by a razor-thin 5–4 margin brilliantly crafted by Justice John Paul Stevens, paved the way to important environmental safeguards which the Trump administration fought hard to unravel and many now seek to expand. “There’s no better book if you want to understand the past, present, and future of environmental litigation.” —Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction “A riveting story, beautifully told.” —Foreign Affairs “Wonderful...A master class in how the Supreme Court works and, more broadly, how major cases navigate through the legal system.” —Science

Why, despite two decades of climate policy, have affluent democracies made so little progress in cutting greenhouse gas emissions? We know that there are ways of doing this that are both practical and affordable. It is politics that is the problem. Stringent climate policies may lead companies to redirect investment elsewhere, or lead voters to retaliate at the ballot box. There are many political obstacles to stronger action. What can be done? Based on an analysis of the logic of policy making, plus observation of recent developments in climate politics, this book identifies a broad range of political strategies that are available to governments that wish to take more effective action against climate change while avoiding serious political damage. Separate chapters deal with strategies relating to unilateral action, persuasion, political exchange, and changing the terms of political exchange. This is the first book-length study of political strategy and climate change and will be of interest not only to policymakers but also to experts and activists looking to formulate politically realistic policy proposals, and scholars and students of politics and environmental studies.

An innovative volume that covers all the common topics of climate law currently debated in the global academic community.

With strong first-hand reporting and an original, provocative thesis, Naomi Klein returns with this book on how the climate crisis must spur transformational political change

A Climate Vocabulary of the Future offers a compelling perspective on climate change that breaks down the formidable challenges facing our species and our planet -- rising temperatures, melting glaciers, and an indifferent global populace quietly overwhelmed by the science and inconceivable consequences of inaction. By skillfully explaining -- with humor, brevity, and clarity -- more than four hundred new, as well as often overlooked words and phrases, A Climate Vocabulary of the Future empowers readers with the information they need to both understand and act. For example, readers will learn the importance of dark snow, carbon war criminals, and negative emissions, as well as the background behind deceptively humorous phrases such as frozen chicken syndrome and robin carbon hood tax. Author Herb Simmens also offers many new ideas to inspire action before it is too late to save ourselves from ourselves. Use A Climate Vocabulary of the Future as a reference or as a creative way to learn the many dimensions of climate change. Above all, use it to acquire the words, images, ideas, and actions necessary to thrive in a world increasingly dominated by climate chaos.

"This book contains the proceedings of an NBER conference held in Washington, DC, on May 13-14, 2010"--Page xi.

The director of the Climate Outreach and Information Network explores the psychological mechanism that enables people to ignore the dangers of climate change, using sidebars, cartoons and engaging stories from his years of research to reveal how humans are wired to primarily respond to visible threats.

Shortlisted for the FT/McKinsey Business Book of the Year award A renowned climate scientist shows how fossil fuel companies have waged a thirty-year campaign to deflect blame and responsibility and delay action on climate change, and offers a battle plan for how we can save the planet. Recycle. Fly less. Eat less meat. These are some of the ways that we've been told can slow climate change. But the inordinate emphasis on individual behavior is the result of a marketing campaign that has succeeded in placing the responsibility for fixing climate change squarely on the shoulders of individuals. Fossil fuel companies have followed the example of other industries deflecting blame (think "guns don't kill people, people kill people") or greenwashing (think of the beverage industry's "Crying Indian" commercials of the 1970s). Meanwhile, they've blocked efforts to regulate or price carbon emissions, run PR campaigns aimed at discrediting viable alternatives, and have abdicated their responsibility in fixing the problem they've created. The result has been disastrous for our planet. In The New Climate War, Mann argues that all is not lost. He draws the battle lines between the people and the polluters-fossil fuel companies, right-wing plutocrats, and petrostates. And he outlines a plan for forcing our governments and corporations to wake up and make real change, including: A common-sense, attainable approach to carbon pricing- and a revision of the well-intentioned but flawed currently proposed version of the Green New Deal; Allowing renewable energy to compete fairly against fossil fuels Debunking the false narratives and arguments that have worked their way into the climate debate and driven a wedge between even those who support climate change solutions Combatting climate doomism and despair-mongering With immensely powerful vested interests aligned in defense of the fossil fuel status quo, the societal tipping point won't happen without the active participation of citizens everywhere aiding in the collective push forward. This book will reach, inform, and enable citizens everywhere to join this battle for our planet.

This groundbreaking book collects contributions from many of the world's leading climate and energy law scholars and provides the first major study of national Climate Change Acts. This cutting-edge type of legislation originated with the first Climate Change Act framework which was passed in the United Kingdom in 2008, and is intended to enable the law to grapple effectively with one of the great problems of our times, anthropogenic climate change. Since 2008, national framework climate legislation has been slowly but steadily emerging in countries across the world. This trailblazing collection employs a comparative analytical legal methodology and offers the first comprehensive study of this new, innovative form of legislative regime. In addition to containing broad internationalist chapters, deep-dive national case study chapters are included that focus on individual countries and provide analytical depth. A final chapter draws together the threads of the book's foregoing contributions to deduce generalisable conceptual insights based on current knowledge and experience. Uniquely, the book provides a conceptual model for Climate Change Acts that can usefully inform the development of national framework climate legislation in all countries.