New Zealand Legislates Away Climate Tort, Part I: Smith v Fonterra and the Global Backlash Against Climate Litigation

This is the second of three consecutive posts on corporate climate accountability. Yesterday’s post examined the Paris Judicial Court’s June 2026 ruling in Notre Affaire à Tous et al. v. TotalEnergies SE.  On August 18, 2026, New Zealand’s Parliament enacted the Climate Change Response (Tort Liability) Amendment Act 2026 (the Liability […]

Recognizing Scope 3, Reserving the Remedy: The Paris Court’s TotalEnergies Judgment

This is the first of two consecutive posts on corporate climate accountability. Tomorrow’s post examines the New Zealand government’s decision to legislate away corporate climate tort before trial — a case study in what happens when governments answer the accountability question before courts can reach it. On June 25, 2026, […]

Sabin Center Releases Summary Report for the Second Conference on Attribution Science and Climate Law

The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and the Columbia Climate School have published the summary report for the Second Conference on Attribution Science and Climate Law, held at Columbia University on June 10–11, 2026. This event brought together physical scientists, legal scholars, public health researchers, economists, and policy experts to discuss […]

Capturing the Future of Climate Change Mitigation: IEAGHG CCS Summer School 2026

Last month, I attended the International Carbon Capture and Storage Summer School, hosted by the International Energy Agency’s Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme (IEAGHG) and INNO-CCUS just outside of Copenhagen, Denmark. The timing was disconcerting: I arrived on Sunday, June 28th, 2026, the day after a heatwave in Europe set all-time […]

Sabin Center Interns Get to the Core of Climate Science

On Thursday July 16th, a group of Sabin Center staff and summer interns boarded the shuttle from Morningside Heights to travel to the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) for an incredible day of learning about the science behind the work we do to combat the climate crisis and advance climate justice. […]

Reading the Appellate Tea Leaves of a Recent Federal Funding Order

Under the second Trump administration, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has radically altered its priorities. Whereas it previously championed climate spending legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), its new leadership, headed by Administrator Lee Zeldin, promptly moved to roll back implementation of IRA programs. Indeed, as part of those […]