Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/06pdf/05-1120.pdf
Page Number: 28

22 

MASSACHUSETTS v. EPA 

Opinion of the Court 

tion  sector,  which  represent  less  than  one-third  of  this
country’s total carbon dioxide emissions, the United States
would  still  rank  as  the  third-largest  emitter  of  carbon
dioxide in the world, outpaced only by the European Union 
and China.22  Judged by any standard, U. S. motor-vehicle
emissions  make  a  meaningful  contribution  to  greenhouse
gas  concentrations  and  hence,  according  to  petitioners,  to 
global warming. 

The Remedy 

While  it  may  be  true  that  regulating  motor-vehicle 
emissions will not by itself reverse global warming, it by no
means follows that we lack jurisdiction to decide whether
EPA has a duty to take steps to slow or reduce it.  See also 
Larson  v.  Valente,  456  U. S.  228,  244,  n. 15  (1982)  (“[A] 
plaintiff  satisfies  the  redressability  requirement  when  he 
shows  that  a  favorable  decision  will  relieve  a  discrete 
injury  to  himself.    He  need  not  show  that  a  favorable 
decision  will  relieve  his  every  injury”).  Because  of  the 
enormity  of  the  potential  consequences  associated  with 
man-made  climate  change,  the  fact  that  the  effectiveness
of a remedy might be delayed during the (relatively short) 
time  it  takes  for  a  new  motor-vehicle  fleet  to  replace  an
older  one  is  essentially  irrelevant.23    Nor  is  it  dispositive 
—————— 

22 See UNFCCC, National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Data for the Period 
1990–2004 and Status of Reporting 14 (2006) (hereinafter Inventory Data) 
(reflecting emissions from Annex I countries); UNFCCC, Sixth Compilation 
and  Synthesis  of  Initial  National  Communications  from  Parties  not  In-
cluded in Annex I to the Convention 7–8 (2005) (reflecting emissions from 
non-Annex  I  countries);  see  also  Dept.  of  Energy,  Energy  Information 
Admin., International Energy Annual 2004, H.1co2 World Carbon Dioxide
Emissions  from  the  Consumption  and  Flaring  of  Fossil  Fuels,  1980–2004
(Table), http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/international/iealf/tableh1co2.xls. 

23 See  also  Mountain  States  Legal  Foundation  v.  Glickman,  92  F. 3d 
1228, 1234 (CADC 1996) (“The more drastic the injury that government 
action  makes  more  likely,  the  lesser  the  increment  in  probability  to
establish  standing”);  Village  of  Elk  Grove  Village  v.  Evans,  997  F. 2d 
328,  329 (CA7 1993) (“[E]ven a small  probability of  injury is sufficient