Journal Article

INTERNATIONAL POWER ON \POWER\

Ferrey, Steven

2015

Overview

Can international power be effectively used to control \"power\"? Electricity is deemed the second most important invention in human history and is now linked inextricably to irreversible international climate change. Power sector carbon emissions must be solved for a solution to the international problem of climate change. Many large developing countries are underwriting the biggest push in world history into high carbon-emitting coal-fíred power, which will destroy world goals. The United Nations sdentine panel in late 2014 concluded, with high certainty, that we are passing the point of being able to control increase in world temperature to less than 2 degrees Celsius—3.8 degrees Fahrenheit—the so-called \"tipping point\" of the Planet's climate. The Kyoto Protocol, the world's attempt at climate control, as it stands today is not sufficient to meet the challenge, Tightening the screws of international law is necessary. This Article examines the various comparative international, national, and subnational legal tools now addressing what many consider the most pressing world problem, with a comparison of U.S. and international tools. The issue of legal mechanisms is at a critical point — China, India, and the other large developing countries are deploying a massive build-out of coal-fíred power generation plants that alone will make world climate goals unattainable, unless different regulatory tools are immediately deployed. This Article assesses where we are going and what international law is and is not doing, and uses these lessons to chart a successful path forward to sustainability.

• Publisher: Lewis & Clark Law School,Lewis & Clark Northwestern School of Law
• Subject: Air pollution control / Carbon / Comparative analysis / Electric power generation / Emissions control / International relations / Laws, regulations and rules / Methods / Political power