LULUCF Is More Than a Mouthful: How the United States could implement the European Union’s land use, land-use change, and forestry policy to help fight against the US agricultural lobby and fight climate change

Authors

Isabella Neihardt

First Page

330

Abstract

Climate change is this generation’s defining issue, and one that has passed the point of requiring critical attention and response. Agriculture is a major contributor to anthropogenic global warming, but it has largely evaded environmental regulation in the United States (US) due to “agricultural exceptionalism” and a powerful agricultural lobby. Activities in the land use, land-use change, and forestry (“LULUCF”) sector can effectively offset carbon dioxide equivalent emissions from agricultural activities through a process known as a “carbon sink.” In the European Union (EU), the agricultural sector is already regulated through Regulation (EU) 2023/839, the first LULUCF regulation of its kind. Although the US rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement in 2021 and committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, its current plan regarding LULUCF is insufficient to meet its proposed goals. This Note argues that despite strong political obstacles, the US must implement LULUCF regulation similar to the EU’s 2023/839 to achieve its emission reduction goals. This Note explores the current ecological disaster created by the US agricultural system, the political obstacles related to regulating agriculture in the US, and the US federal government’s failed attempts to regulate emissions from agriculture following the pivotal Supreme Court case Massachusetts v. EPA. Finally, this Note posits that the US must adopt legislation similar to the EU’s through either state-by-state adoption or comprehensive federal legislation to combat climate change and bring the largely unregulated agricultural sector in check.

Recommended Citation

Isabella Neihardt, LULUCF Is More Than a Mouthful: How the United States could implement the European Union’s land use, land-use change, and forestry policy to help fight against the US agricultural lobby and fight climate change, 50 Brook. J. Int'l L. 330 (2025).
Available at: https://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/bjil/vol50/iss2/8