The Role of Legal Compliance in Sustainable Supply Chains, Operations, and Marketing ​

Chapter 11

EPA’s Climate Change Programs to Date

Greenhouse gases are not your typical pollutant. We address these atmospheric pollutants here, rather than in Chapter 6 (on air pollution from operations), because the nature of the risk created and the sources of the pollution are distinct from those conventional airborne pollutants currently regulated under the Clean Air Act. For one, greenhouse gases, unlike hazardous air pollutants or volatile organic compounds, are not inherently toxic or dangerous to breath. Every living, breathing creature exhales carbon dioxide, so it seems odd, at first blush, to regulate it as a pollutant. The risk arises when greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere at extreme volumes, thereby interfering with ...