Dena Adler

22 posts

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights Recognizes a Right to a Healthy Environment in Recent Advisory Opinion

By Jose Felix Pinto-Bazurco* Since its founding in 1979, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (the Court) has issued 24 advisory opinions. Although it has previously recognized the existence of a relationship between environmental protection and the enjoyment of other human rights, it has done so only in relation to […]

U.S. Climate Change Litigation in the Age of Trump: Year One—A New Sabin Center Working Paper

By Dena Adler Donald Trump claims to have delivered on deregulation in his first year as President. While independent reporting questions the veracity of his assertions, climate change is one arena where the Trump Administration’s regulatory rollbacks have been both visible and real. The Administration has delayed and initiated the […]

Irish High Court Recognizes a Right to an Environment, But Finds that Environmental Group Lacks Standing to Make Climate Change Claims in Airport Runway Case

By Dena Adler On November 21, 2017, the High Court of Ireland blocked a climate change case concerning construction of a new airport runway from moving forward, but made a groundbreaking decision in recognizing “a personal constitutional right to an environment” for the first time. In Friends of the Irish […]

Transparency and ICAO’s Aviation Offsetting Scheme: Two Separate Concepts? – A New Sabin Center Working Paper

By Dena Adler The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the UN specialized body for aviation, earned international praise in October 2016 for striking a deal to cap emissions from international passenger and cargo flights at 2020 levels, but a new Sabin Center Working Paper argues that ICAO must improve its […]

Former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy Looks to the Courts, Businesses, and Citizens to Protect Our Climate

By Dena Adler Former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy delivered the third David Sive Memorial Lecture on Environmental Law at Columbia Law School on Thursday, September 28. Sharing her thoughts on “The Present and Future of the EPA,” she sharply critiqued the actions of Scott Pruitt’s EPA as illegal and without scientific […]

Hurricanes’ Contaminated Floodwaters Might Crest Next Wave of Climate Change Litigation

By Dena Adler It has been widely reported that Hurricanes Harvey and Irma inundated industrial plants, wastewater treatment plants, and Superfund sites, causing a stew of toxic chemicals and sewage to leak into floodwaters and releasing almost 1 million pounds of seven deadly pollutants into the air. The Union of […]