Climate Law and Policy
Future Offerings
Climate Law and Policy (2520): Climate change presents an enormous challenge for the environment, our economy, and U.S. legal and policy norms. This course, open to law school students and graduate students from other schools, surveys the legal, socio-economic, and political implications of climate change. The course kicks off with a brief introduction to climate science and then dives into the wide range of legal and policy approaches for addressing climate change, including existing and potential decarbonization incentives and mandates, carbon accounting and disclosure obligations and practices, energy infrastructure needs, and climate adaptation and resilience strategies. Differing stakeholder perspectives will provide a focal point for analyzing rising tensions between federal and state climate-related laws and policies; corporate legal responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions; barriers of entry for clean energy and clean tech companies (including financing, infrastructure permitting, NIMBY-based restrictions, etc.); and the interests of communities that have borne the brunt of legacy pollution. The class will focus primarily on U.S. law and policy as influenced by international climate frameworks and emerging procurement and trade-based practices. We will have guest appearances by national climate law and policy leaders and practitioners. Grades will reflect class participation, a short paper, and an exam.
Sections
Past Offerings
Climate Law and Policy (2520): Climate change poses an existential threat to our planet. This course, open to law school students and graduate students from other schools, provides a survey of the legal and political mechanisms and social forces that may be leveraged to support decarbonization of global energy systems and adaptation to a warming planet. We will start with a brief introduction to climate science and then consider the international, federal, state and local legal regimes applicable to climate change, with an emphasis on U.S. law and policy. We will also consider the societal dynamics animating public and private net-zero commitments and the role that the environmental justice movement has in advancing climate justice. This course will include guest appearances by luminaries and practitioners in the climate space. Grades will reflect class participation, two short papers, and a take-home exam.
Sections
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2024-2025 WinterSchedule No Longer Available
Climate Law and Policy (2520): Climate change poses an existential threat to our planet. This course, open to law school students and graduate students from other schools, provides a survey of the legal and political mechanisms and social forces that may be leveraged to support decarbonization of global energy systems and adaptation to a warming planet. We will start with a brief introduction to climate science and then consider the international, federal, state and local legal regimes applicable to climate change, with an emphasis on U.S. law and policy. We will also consider the societal dynamics animating public and private net-zero commitments and the role that the environmental justice movement has in advancing climate justice. This course will include guest appearances by luminaries and practitioners in the climate space. Grades will reflect class participation, two short papers, and a take-home exam.
Sections
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2023-2024 WinterSchedule No Longer Available