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ARTICLE · 02 AUGUST 2010

Making the States Full Partners in a National Climate Change Effort: A Necessary Element for Sustainable Economic Development

Ballard Spahr LLP
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For at least a decade, states have exercised de facto national leadership on climate change policy development.

United StatesEnvironment
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Article by: John C. Dernbach, Widener University - School of Law; Robert B. McKinstry Jr., Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP; Pennsylvania State University - Dickinson School of Law and Thomas D. Peterson, Center for Climate Strategies; Johns Hopkins Global Security Center

For at least a decade, states have exercised de facto national leadership on climate change policy development. 1 Through comprehensive planning, intensive fact-finding, and stakeholder-based consensus-building, they have developed and refined a broad range of laws and policies intended to advance climate, energy, and economic policy objectives simultaneously. The recommended portfolios of actions derived from this work, involving more than one-half of all U.S. states and regions, as well as the formal participation of more than 1,500 stakeholders and technical experts, show the potential of appropriately crafted measures to expand the economy and create jobs, reduce energy conflicts

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