The federal district court for the District of Columbia rejected a preemption challenge to the Clean Energy D.C. Building Code Amendment Act of 2022, which bans use of gas appliances in certain newly constructed or improved buildings. The court concluded that the text, statutory scheme, and history of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act supported a reading of its preemption clause as preempting “only laws that impose additional performance standards for appliances on top of federally established ones.”

Preemption challenge to the District of Columbia's building decarbonization law.

National Association of Home Builders of the United States v. District of Columbia

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D.C. Federal Court Rejected Preemption Challenge to D.C. Building Decarbonization Law

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

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Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

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Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

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Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

A tax advantage is a fiscal incentive where the government reduces or exempts selected activities, goods or actors from taxes.

Codes and standards are regulatory instruments that specify minimum standards to protect health and safety. This ranges from performance standards, which prescribe outcomes while allowing flexibility to achieve compliance, to the more prescriptive approach of technology-specific standards.

A ban is a legal action that prevents the sale or supply of a product or service, or that recalls a product from the market. Examples are bans on SF6, greenwashing, fossil fuel advertisement or single-use plastics.

A target to reduce the prevalence of a greenhouse gas over a specific time frame

A commitment to balance GHG emissions with removal by a certain point in time, effectively reducing the net emissions to zero

Replacing technologies that burn fossil fuels directly with alternatives powered by electricity.

Actions to reduce emissions in energy generation and supply.

Risks to the ecosystem health of the marine environment, including ocean warming, ocean acidification, and ocean deoxygenation, harming biodiversity, species health, ecosystem services, and coastal community livelihoods.

Extreme weather refers to events where a weather variable exceeds (or falls below) a threshold. Meaning it is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

Any compulsory, unrequited payment to the government levied on corporations or individuals. This can be for environmental reasons, such as introducing a Carbon tax to set a price that emitters must pay for the greenhouse gases they emit.

The activities of industries that transforms raw materials into finished goods through industrial processes.

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Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

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Heavy precipitation refers to any form of weather where substances fall from the sky, including rain, snow, sleet, or hail.

D.C. Federal Court Rejected Preemption Challenge to D.C. Building Decarbonization Law

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Policy instrument

Risk

Renewable energy

Fossil fuel

Economic sector