Welcome to our fifth issue of Currents 2025. We are covering a multitude of issues in this edition, but we want to pass along an announcement and an event notice first. Again, thank you for reading! Tapping Into Common...more
Welcome to the latest edition of the Sustainability Spotlight, your place to keep up with all the ESG action – federal and state enforcement, shareholder proposals and litigation, and state attorney general actions. This...more
A number of the new administration’s executive actions are intended to implement a significant shift in energy and environmental policy, including the following, all issued on January 20, 2025. “Unleashing American Energy”...more
On Friday, January 3, 2025, the Montana Supreme Court issued a decision in MEIC v. DEQ (Laurel Generating Station), its second major decision on the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) in the last few weeks that affects...more
In a 6-1 ruling yesterday, Montana’s Supreme Court upheld a landmark decision finding that a 2011 state law making it illegal to consider environmental impacts (including greenhouse gas emissions) when issuing permits for...more
Last month, the High Court ruled that planning permission previously granted for a coal mine in West Cumbria was unlawful (Friends of the Earth v West Cumbria Mining [2024] EWHC 2349 (Admin) ("West Cumbria Mining")). West...more
On July 4, 2024, the UK general election took place, and the Labour Party won with a significant majority. After 14 years of Conservative Party rule, a number of changes are now expected in respect of the UK's position on...more
Good morning! This is Akin’s newsletter on climate change policy and regulatory developments, providing information on major climate policy headlines from the past week and forthcoming climate-related events and hearings...more
Finch v. Surrey calls for assessment of all likely direct and indirect environmental effects in EIAs, including certain Scope 3 emissions if a reasonable estimate is feasible. On 20 June 2024, the UK Supreme Court (the...more
We are pleased to announce the release of our latest whitepaper, Fueling Up: How to Make U.S. Clean Hydrogen Projects Happen. This comprehensive report explores the critical steps needed to unlock the potential of clean...more
The key principles for a Carbon Management Strategy and draft act on the revision of the Carbon Storage Act create new opportunities for investors and project developers. The German Federal Government’s Carbon Management...more
On March 22, 2024, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued additional guidance in respect of the “Energy Community Bonus” in Notice 2024-30 (the “Notice”), which provides two key updates: (1) offshore wind farms have two...more
An Act Driving Clean Energy and Offshore Wind (St. 2022, c. 179, § 84) required the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) to establish a demonstration project in which 10 municipalities were selected to adopt...more
If accepted, the new Draft Regulatory Guide DG-4034, “General Site Suitability Criteria for Nuclear Power Stations,” may facilitate the siting of both advanced and traditional reactors closer to population centers. The...more
As the world focuses on energy transition and decarbonisation, there is clearly no shortage of bold ambition on the part of many African governments to play a key role in global efforts to tackle climate change. Meanwhile,...more
New York State announced this week what it is calling the largest state investment in renewable energy with the conditional awards including three of the country’s largest proposed offshore wind farms as well as 22 land-based...more
What is the Hydrogen Hubbub? Hydrogen is seen by many as the fuel of the future, a substance that can provide heat through combustion, or electrical power from fuel cells, emitting only water in the process. Its potential...more
On August 14, 2023, in a “landmark” ruling, a Montana state court held that youth plaintiffs had standing to assert constitutional claims against the State of Montana, its governor and state agencies for “ignoring” the impact...more
Domestic Nuclear Power Advancement: Barriers to Entry and the Need for a National Strategy - As previously reported on this site, nuclear generation development has taken hold as a potential promise for a long-term,...more
[This is the second post in our Hydrogen Blog Series. Read the first post...] In the first post, I alluded to the technical issues hydrogen developers are considering. Here we’ll look at how hydrogen is produced and what...more
In what appears to have been an update to previously released guidance, the Department of Treasury (the “Treasury”) and Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) posted an unexpected update to Notice 2023-29 (the “Notice”)...more
During a pandemic paper purge, I found a corporate newsletter showing me and my boss, George David, then CEO of United Technologies Corporation, at the Earth Technologies Forum admiring a display captioned “Why is UTC a...more
President Biden is reportedly contemplating the declaration of a “national climate emergency” (NCE). According to his advisors, all options are on the table for the administration as it seeks to meet its ambitious climate...more
Blocking funding for gas energy projects in Africa may seem like sensible climate policy. But is it? Although the generally accepted ultimate goal is to replace fossil fuels entirely, there is a strong case for starting by...more
The Biden administration will resume federal oil and gas leasing in June with a large reduction in acres available for drilling and a historic royalty rate increase. On April 18, 2022, the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”)...more