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This week the Fifth National Climate Assessment, which is a Congressionally mandated inter-agency  study of the impacts of climate change, was released.The Climate Assessment is issued ever four years as an analysis of the progress of climate change and efforts to curtail it impacts.

As noted in the introductory portion of the Assessment:

“The more the planet warms, the greater the impacts. Without rapid and deep reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, the risks of accelerating sea level rise, intensifying extreme weather, and other harmful climate impacts will continue to grow. Each additional increment of warming is expected to lead to more damage and greater economic losses compared to previous increments of warming, while the risk of catastrophic or unforeseen consequences also increases. …

However, this also means that each increment of warming that the world avoids—through actions that cut emissions or remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere—reduces the risks and harmful impacts of climate change. While there are still uncertainties about how the planet will react to rapid warming, the degree to which climate change will continue to worsen is largely in human hands. …

In addition to reducing risks to future generations, rapid emissions cuts are expected to have immediate health and economic benefits ,,,. At the national scale, the benefits of deep emissions cuts for current and future generations are expected to far outweigh the costs.”

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The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (“IPCC”) issued its Sixth Assessment Report (“AR6”) on March 19, 2023 summarizing the findings of various studies of the impacts of climate change. “This Synthesis Report (SYR) of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6)  summarizes the state of knowledge of climate change, its widespread impacts and risks, and climate change mitigation and adaptation.”

The Report notes that global surface temperatures between 2011- 2020 were on average 1.09 degrees Celsius higher than the period of 1850 -1900. With the temperature over land averaging about half a degree Celsius more than over oceans. The “likely” amount of the increase due to human activity represented by Greenhouse Gases (“GHGs”) and aerosols is 1.07 degrees Celsius.

Some of the findings,noted in the Report follow, with notations as to the level of confidence in the accuracy of the conclusions:

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In June, at the end of its 2021-2022 Term, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling with far reaching implications for the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) to regulate Greenhouse Gas (“GHG”) emissions and any attempt to limit the impacts of climate change. In a ruling by the conservative majority of the Court in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, the Court held that an EPA regulation attempting to regulate GHG emissions exceeded the authority of the EPA. The decision is unusual as the rule was never fully implemented. While the rule, known as the Clean Power Plan, adopted in 2015, was intended to implement what the EPA found was  the “best system of emission reduction” or ” the BSER, for the kind of existing source at issue”, the rule was stayed by the Court in 2016.

The rule was based on an analysis undertaken by the EPA.

“Having decided that the BSER was one that would reduce carbon pollution mostly by moving production to cleaner sources, EPA then set about determining ‘the degree of emission limitation achievable through the application’ of that system. … The Agency recognized that, in translating the BSER into an operational emissions limit, it could choose whether to require anything from a little generation shifting to a great deal. It settled on what it regarded as a ‘reasonable’ amount of shift, which it based on modeling how much more electricity both natural gas and renewable sources could supply without causing undue cost increases or reducing the overall power supply. … The Agency ultimately projected, for instance, that it would be feasible to have coal provide 27% of national electricity generation by 2030, down from 38% in 2014.”

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Last week the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled on oil and gas Lease 257 issued by the U.S. Government for 80.8 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico pursuant to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (“BOEM”) 2017–2022 Program. The ruling in Friends of the Earth v. Haaland, among other things addressed issues of climate change. If upheld, the determination may have far reaching impacts.

The action, against various federal officials alleged that the issuance of the Lease violated the National Environmental Protection Act (“NEPA”) and the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”). The Court addressed four cross motions for summary judgment.

The Lease involves the portion of the Gulf of Mexico known as the Outer Continental Shelf. “The Outer Continental Shelf Leasing Act (“OCSLA”) is the statutory framework under which the Department of the Interior may lease areas of the Outer Continental Shelf. 43 U.S.C. 1334; Ctr. for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Dep’t of Interior,563 F.3d 466, 472 (D.C. Cir.2009) [hereinafter “Biological Diversity”]. OCSLA sets forth a four-stage process for potential oil and gas production that is “pyramidic in structure, proceeding from broad-based planning to an increasingly narrower focus as actual development grows more imminent.” State of Cal. ex rel. Brown v. Watt, 668 F.2d 1290,1297 (D.C. Cir. 1981).”

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Following up on previous assessment reports, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued an updated assessment report on August 9, 2021. The Report carries dire warnings of the impacts of man-made activities unless immediate steps are taken.

In the summary for policymakers provided in the Report, the authors make a number of significant findings, regarding the increases in green house gas (GHG), sea level rise, increased temperatures and other impacts of climate change, much of which they find was either likely caused or contributed to by man.

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On May 4, 2021 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued its once a decade report on the status of United States weather over the previous thirty year period.  The report called U.S. Climate Normals, provides a compilation of the observations from local weather stations throughout the United States during the period from 1991 through 2020.

“Simply stated: The Normals are the basis for judging how daily, monthly and annual climate conditions compare to what’s normal for a specific location in today’s climate.”

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Last week the United Nations secretariat issued a “Synthesis Report” summarizing the current status of the attempts by the signatories to the Paris Climate Agreement in addressing climate change. The Report provides sobering revelations concerning the speed by which irreversible climate change is occurring and how little time the world has to take action. The Report is stated to be a synthesis of information provided, as of December 31, 2020, by 48 of the Nationally Determined Contributors (“NDCs”), with respect to their goals for periods ranging between 2025 and 2050. It is anticipated that the information will be updated as the time for the next conference on climate change approaches.

The report summarizes the present goals for reduction in Green House Gases (“GHGs”) but notes: “…to be consistent with global emission pathways with no or limited overshoot of the 1.5°C goal, global net anthropogenic CO2 emissions need to decline by about 45 per cent from the 2010 level by 2030,reaching net zero around2050. For limiting global warming to below 2°C, CO2 emissions need to decrease by about 25 per cent from the 2010 level by 2030 and reach net zero around 2070. Deep reductions are required for non-CO2 emissions as well. Thus, the estimated reductions referred to … above fall far short of what is required, demonstrating the need for Parties to further strengthen their mitigation commitments under the Paris Agreement.”

The Report summarizes various actions  and goals proposed by the Participants noting:

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The American Meteorological Society issued its annual report recently on the state of the climate for 2019. The report notes increases in Green House Gases (GHGs) as well as extreme warm days during 2019. A partial summary of the findings in the report includes the following:

“All major greenhouse gases released into Earth’s atmosphere reached new record high concentrations in 2019. The annual global average carbon dioxide concentration at Earth’s surface was 409.8 ± 0.1 ppm, an increase of 2.5 ± 0.1 ppm over 2018, and the highest in the modern instrumental record and in ice core records dating back 800,000 years. Greenhouse gases, along with several halogenated gases, have contributed to a 45% increase in net forcing compared to 1990.

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According to a report released this week, extreme heat events will increase unless aggressive actions are rapidly implemented. The Report, issued by the Union of Concerned Scientists, outlines the  devastating impacts of increasingly frequent extreme heat events throughout the United States. The Report notes in what is effectively a call to action:

“If we wish to spare people in the United States and around the world the mortal dangers of extreme and relentless heat, there is little time to do so and little room for half measures. We need to employ our most ambitious actions to prevent the rise of extreme heat—to save lives and safeguard the quality of life for today’s children, who will live out their days in the future we’re currently creating.”

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This week the Federal District Court for  the District of Columbia found that the United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM) failed to adequately consider the potential impacts of oil and gas leases on climate change. In Wildearth Guardians v. Zinke, the Court noted:

“Climate change, and humanity’s ability to combat it, are increasingly prominent topics of public discourse. This case concerns the attention the government must give climate change when taking action that may increase its effects.”

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