{"id":28796,"date":"2026-05-01T10:13:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T15:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/?p=28796"},"modified":"2026-05-01T10:13:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T15:13:19","slug":"staff-news-daniel-metzger-is-promoted-to-director-of-the-cities-climate-law-initiative-and-hema-lochan-joins-the-renewable-energy-legal-defense-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2026\/05\/01\/staff-news-daniel-metzger-is-promoted-to-director-of-the-cities-climate-law-initiative-and-hema-lochan-joins-the-renewable-energy-legal-defense-initiative\/","title":{"rendered":"Staff News: Daniel Metzger is Promoted to Director of the Cities Climate Law Initiative and Hema Lochan Joins the Renewable Energy Legal Defense Initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/files\/2026\/05\/Dan-Metzger_September-2023.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-28799\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/files\/2026\/05\/Dan-Metzger_September-2023-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"228\" height=\"304\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/files\/2026\/05\/Dan-Metzger_September-2023-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/files\/2026\/05\/Dan-Metzger_September-2023-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/files\/2026\/05\/Dan-Metzger_September-2023-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/files\/2026\/05\/Dan-Metzger_September-2023-570x760.jpg 570w, https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/files\/2026\/05\/Dan-Metzger_September-2023.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 228px) 100vw, 228px\" \/><\/a>We are pleased to announce that Daniel Metzger has been promoted to Director of the Sabin Center\u2019s Cities Climate Law Initiative. In this role, Daniel will continue to research legal tools that cities and other local governments can use to advance climate mitigation and adaptation. In addition to his academic research, Daniel will also work directly with city legal departments, sustainability offices, partner organizations, and the networks that connect them\u2014providing research, resources, and analysis on the legal questions shaping the urban climate transition.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to taking on this new role, Daniel served as a Smart Surfaces Fellow at the Sabin Center, exploring legal issues related to reflective and porous pavements, green roofs, solar PV, urban forestry, and other climate-responsive infrastructure at the metropolitan and community scale. Prior to that role, he was a litigator with the Southern Environmental Law Center, where he advocated for a just transition to renewable electricity generation in the Southeast. He has also served as a Climate Law Fellow at the Sabin Center, an associate at a boutique litigation firm, and a judicial clerk in the Eastern District of New York.<\/p>\n<p>We look forward to Daniel\u2019s continued contributions to the Sabin Center\u2019s expanding work on cities and climate action.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/files\/2026\/05\/Hema-Lochan-e1623781858600-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-28802\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/files\/2026\/05\/Hema-Lochan-e1623781858600-1-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/files\/2026\/05\/Hema-Lochan-e1623781858600-1-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/files\/2026\/05\/Hema-Lochan-e1623781858600-1-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/files\/2026\/05\/Hema-Lochan-e1623781858600-1-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/files\/2026\/05\/Hema-Lochan-e1623781858600-1-570x570.png 570w, https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/files\/2026\/05\/Hema-Lochan-e1623781858600-1-70x70.png 70w, https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/files\/2026\/05\/Hema-Lochan-e1623781858600-1-510x510.png 510w, https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/files\/2026\/05\/Hema-Lochan-e1623781858600-1.png 959w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>We also welcome Hema Lochan, who joined the Sabin Center this month as a Senior Fellow working with the Renewable Energy Legal Defense Initiative (RELDI). Hema\u2019s work will focus on advancing the buildout of renewable energy projects by collaborating with local community groups and organizations.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to joining the Sabin Center, Hema worked as an environmental justice litigator for 4+ years in the Clean Energy Program at Earthjustice, where they represented directly impacted communities in both federal and state cases. Hema received their J.D. from Fordham Law School in 2021.<\/p>\n<p>We look forward to Hema\u2019s contributions to our RELDI\u2019s growing body of work!<\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 5px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We are pleased to announce that Daniel Metzger has been promoted to Director of the Sabin Center\u2019s Cities Climate Law Initiative. In this role, Daniel will continue to research legal tools that cities and other local governments can use to advance climate mitigation and adaptation. In addition to his academic research, Daniel will also work [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2314,"featured_media":28811,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69146,65690],"tags":[65711,65729,69973],"class_list":{"0":"post-28796","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news-events","8":"category-staff-news","9":"tag-cities-climate-law-initiative","10":"tag-renewable-energy-legal-defense-initiative","11":"tag-staff-news","12":"czr-hentry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Staff News: Daniel Metzger is Promoted to Director of the Cities Climate Law Initiative and Hema Lochan Joins the Renewable Energy Legal Defense Initiative - Climate Law Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2026\/05\/01\/staff-news-daniel-metzger-is-promoted-to-director-of-the-cities-climate-law-initiative-and-hema-lochan-joins-the-renewable-energy-legal-defense-initiative\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Staff News: Daniel Metzger is Promoted to Director of the Cities Climate Law Initiative and Hema Lochan Joins the Renewable Energy Legal Defense Initiative - Climate Law Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We are pleased to announce that Daniel Metzger has been promoted to Director of the Sabin Center\u2019s Cities Climate Law Initiative. In this role, Daniel will continue to research legal tools that cities and other local governments can use to advance climate mitigation and adaptation. 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