Climate Exactions

J. Peter Byrne and Kathryn A. Zyla

Governments at every level need to devise innovative approaches to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases in order to lessen global warming already underway. They also need to fashion measures to help adapt to the inevitable and alarming environmental effects. Efforts are underway at the federal and state levels to reduce emissions from large stationary sources and from vehicles, and to plan for climate adaptation. However, these efforts will have little impact on land use development patterns, which drive transportation choices and reshape natural systems. These patterns are regulated primarily by local planning decisions, which have not historically addressed greenhouse gas emissions or adaptation challenges. However, local governments have significant experience using land use tools to mitigate other development impacts, including those on environmental resources.

Monetary exactions are one such common tool that can force developers to mitigate the climate costs of new development. Local governments commonly impose fees, a type of monetary exaction, on new development to offset public costs that such development will impose. This Essay argues that monetary fees offer significant potential as a tool to help local governments manage land development’s contribution to climate change. Such “climate exactions” can put a price on the carbon emissions from new development and also on development that reduces the natural resiliency of the jurisdiction to the effects of climate change, such as sea-level rise.