On May 1, 2024, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”) published its final “Phase 2” National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) regulations, formally called the Bipartisan Permitting Reform Implementation Rule (“Final Rule”). Publication of the Final Rule completes a multi-year effort by the Biden Administration that included publication of final, narrower “Phase 1” rule in April 2022. The Final Rule is predominantly consistent with the 2023 proposed rule, which is analyzed in an earlier blog post.

CEQ’s Final Rule is notable in many respects. It advances sound environmental analysis to inform the public and decisionmakers while implementing new efficiencies to help accelerate the environmental permitting process for infrastructure projects, from solar, wind, and transmission lines to federally-funded domestic manufacturing projects. In this regard, the Final Rule is a key component of the Biden Administration’s commitment to advancing domestic infrastructure, including projects aligned with the Biden Administration’s climate and clean goals that are being further propelled by federal grants and tax incentives pursuant to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). 

coal power plant black smoke Shutterstock_2190642233

After nearly two decades of litigation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently finalized a suite of four regulations targeting the power sector. The rules aim to address greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, mercury pollution, wastewater management, and coal ash disposal.

Predecessors to the current GHG and mercury rules faced particularly close judicial scrutiny, with the…

Introduction

On May 1, 2024, the Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”) promulgated the Bipartisan Permitting Reform Implementation Rule (“Final Rule”), 89 Fed. Reg. 35,442 (May 1, 2024), which is better known as Phase 2 of the Biden Administration’s revisions to the regulations that implement the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”).

NEPA imposes a procedural requirement…

On April 23, 2024, by a vote of 3-2 along party lines, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted to approve a final rule effectively banning employers from using non-compete agreements, with a few limited exceptions. The measure reflects an unprecedented effort by the FTC to expand its rule-making authority. The final rule “shall supersede” all…

Climate_Small

In a survey carried out by HSBC in 2023, 97% of real estate developers and investors said net zero was important to their business and 59% of the largest real estate companies said net zero was their top priority.

A third of companies in the sector already have Transition Plans and the push for formalising Transition Plans across the sector is increasing.

In April 2024, the Transition Plan Taskforce (“TPT”) published its final set of transition plan resources to help businesses transition to net zero.

In this article, we consider the guidance available to the real estate sector in preparing Transition Plans (“TP”).