A robust and growing commercial space sector is moving ahead at warp speed. While the industry today primarily offers satellite and launch services, tomorrow will bring manufacturing, research and development, resource extraction, and space tourism. What do these developments mean for the earth’s biosphere, as well as for the environments of other celestial bodies finally within humanity’s reach? This is the role of planetary protection, the principle of safeguarding both terrestrial and extraterrestrial environments from humanity’s propensity for introducing pollution into any habitat.

This Article explores the environmental justice, climate justice, and sustainable development implications of the recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act, which encourages domestically produced and processed minerals for the country’s energy transition from fossil fuels.

As noted by the International Energy Agency, taxation is a necessary component of strategies to increase adoption of electric vehicle (EV) technology. In the United States, taxation has supported the energy policy of increased uptake of EVs. This Article focuses on the evolving U.S. tax policy, highlighting the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. It addresses continuing challenges and ways to meet those challenges, including examining some European policies for encouraging EVs. The author concludes by recommending policies that may be consistent with existing U.S.

Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the direct targeting of nuclear power plants (NPP) was largely unimaginable in armed conflict. International humanitarian law (IHL) requires their protection, but since February 2022, Russia has directly targeted nuclear facilities, including the nonoperational Chornobyl NPP and the operational Zaporizhzhia NPP. This Article documents how NPPs in Ukraine have come under direct attack, been occupied, and used for military purposes.