The federal district court for the District of Massachusetts ruled that the Climate Working Group assembled by Secretary of Energy Chris Wright did not fall within an exception to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) for groups “assembled to exchange facts or information with a Federal official.” The court found that a “single act of incorporating feedback on a draft of an otherwise independent report” was “not analogous to the prolonged exchanges between indeterminate groups” that courts had found to fall within the FACA exception. The court further found that no reasonable jury could find that the report authored by the Climate Working Group did not constitute “advice or recommendations for a renewed approach to climate policy” and not a “mere ‘review’ of the literature.” The court denied the environmental group plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction requiring the defendants to provide them with the Climate Working Group records; the court found the plaintiffs’ inability to draw on the records in comments on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rescission of the 2009 Clean Air Act endangerment finding regarding greenhouse gas emissions did not constitute an irreparable informational injury.

Lawsuit asserting that establishment and utilization of the Climate Working Group to produce a report to provide justification for rescinding the Clean Air Act endangerment finding for greenhouse gases for was unlawful.

Environmental Defense Fund, Inc. v. Wright

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Massachusetts Federal Court Said Climate Working Group Did Not Qualify as Exception to Federal Advisory Committee Act but Found that Environmental Groups Did Not Establish Irreparable Harm Warranting Preliminary Injunction

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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.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

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

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

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

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

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

Conditions that enhance the feasibility of adaptation options. Enabling conditions include finance, technological innovation, strengthening policy instruments, institutional capacity, multi-level governance and changes in human behaviour and lifestyles.

A long-lived, colourless gas, chiefly emitted from fossil fuel combustion, deforestation and cement production.

Coal is a combustible sedimentary rock formed from carbonised plant matter, rich in carbon and hydrocarbons, and occurring in several main types including hard coal and brown coal.

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

This sector creates and distributes information and entertainment through television, radio, print, and digital platforms.

Massachusetts Federal Court Said Climate Working Group Did Not Qualify as Exception to Federal Advisory Committee Act but Found that Environmental Groups Did Not Establish Irreparable Harm Warranting Preliminary Injunction

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience