Justin Gundlach Climate Law Fellow Susan Biniaz, Columbia Law School class of 1983, has been the lead climate change lawyer for the U.S. Department of State since 1989. She recently spoke at the law school about her experience negotiating climate agreements. In the fall of 2016 she will be teaching international environmental […]
Justin Gundlach
Justin Gundlach Climate Law Fellow As round after round has passed in the political and legal struggle at the federal level over regulating sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, states have rushed in to try to fill the void. Minnesota sought to do so in 2007 when it passed the […]
by Michael Gerrard Faculty Director In January my Columbia colleague Jeffrey Sachs told me that the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences (with which he had worked for several years) was organizing a conference at the Vatican of judges, prosecutors and legal scholars from around the world to discuss how the […]
New York’s 2014 Community Risk and Resiliency Act (CRRA) instructs the Department of State and the Department of Environmental Conservation to create model local laws that local governments can use in developing and implementing climate change adaptation policies related to sea level rise and flood risk. The Sabin Center’s new […]
Justin Gundlach Climate Law Fellow In an opinion issued on May 11, 2016, a two-judge panel of India’s Supreme Court chastised that country’s federal and regional governments for their recent responses to severe droughts, which the Court said contravene key provisions of the National Disaster Mitigation Act of 2005 (DM […]
by David Markell David Sive Visiting Scholar, fall 2016 The legal environment for local government in Florida is beginning to change when it comes to sea-level rise (sometimes referred to as SLR). Innovations in institutional structure and governance strategies are underway in the State as well. This paper, Sea-Level Rise […]
by Michael Gerrard, Faculty Director Yesterday Magistrate Judge Thomas Coffin of the U.S. District Court of Oregon recommended denial of motions to dismiss a suit brought by a group of young people who alleged that excessive carbon emissions are threatening their future. The plaintiffs also include Dr. James Hansen, who […]
by Michael Burger and Justin Gundlach This morning the Sabin Center filed an amicus brief in support of EPA’s Clean Power Plan on behalf of a coalition of local government representatives including the National League of Cities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and 54 U.S. cities, counties, and mayors. (Check […]