Environmental Law Commons^™

Climate Change And Corporate Law In The United States: Not "Woke" But Eyes Open., Cynthia A. Williams

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This Essay discusses the evidence that climate change and nature loss create financially material risks for corporations that must be carefully considered by officers and directors pursuant to their fiduciary duties of loyalty and care. This analysis concludes that under the current state of fiduciary duty law and the known financial risks presented by climate change and nature loss, officers and directors of corporations may breach their fiduciary duties by failing to implement and monitor a robust system to identify and manage each type of industry-specific climate-related and nature related risk. Risk of breach is particularly acute for entity-specific compliance …

Climate Litigation And Third-Party Litigation Finance, Courtney Geiss

Indiana Law Journal

For the last 200 years, human activities have been the main driver of global climate change, particularly the burning of fossil fuels. Increased emissions from fossil fuels have contributed to rising temperatures, food scarcity, and natural disasters, including fires, flooding, and droughts. Although climate change has been an issue in the public eye for the last several decades, global emissions are projected to continue increasing. At this point, it is clear that current actions at the individual and state level are not enough to meaningfully reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In this Note, I will discuss the idea of using third-party …

Jbs’S Initial Public Offering: Threats To Environmental And Human Rights, Kayla Thompson

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

This paper centers around the decision to be made regarding JBS, the world’s largest meat company, wanting to list shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), and the environmental and social impacts that could result from the Security and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approval. JBS has been at the center of various controversies over the last several years, including sourcing cattle from ranches acquired through illegal deforestation, engaging in greenwashing practices, incorrectly reporting greenhouse gas emissions, and engaging in human rights abuses. Many environmental groups have filed complaints with the SEC concerning JBS’s bid to list on the NYSE. The …

Prescribing A Balance: Sustaining Environmental Health With Pharmaceutical Interest In Puerto Rico, Derek Warzel

Indiana Law Journal

Puerto Rico, often referred to as the “Medical Cabinet of the U.S.A.,” is a hub for pharmaceutical manufacturing, contributing significantly to the American medical supply chain and Puerto Rico’s economy. However, decades of industrial activity, compounded by climate events like Hurricane Maria, have led to severe environmental damage, particularly through groundwater contamination and damaged Superfund sites. This Note examines the historical intersection of economic incentives and environmental neglect in Puerto Rico, focusing on the pharmaceutical industry’s impact. By critically analyzing the Superfund program and proposing reforms, this Note advocates for a balanced approach: introducing proactive environmental protections and financial incentives …

Mandatory Fertilizer Regulations: A Survey Of State And Federal Laws, S. Emily Grams, James Rehwaldt

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

The Environmental Protection Agency describes nutrient pollution as “one of the most widespread and challenging environmental problems faced by our nation.” Despite this acknowledgment, federal and state governments impose little to no mandatory laws to regulate the application of synthetic fertilizers to farmland, the primary source of nutrient pollution. Further, emissions from agriculture play a key role in global emissions; failing to address them could prevent the global attainment of the 1.5 degrees Celsius and 2 degrees Celsius climate change goals. In an attempt to shed light on the issue, this Article describes the significant climatic and environmental impacts of …

Victims In Criminal Cases: The Right To Settle Your Own Case, Isabella Lund

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Distinguishing Among Climate Change-Related Risks, Lisa E. Sachs, Denise Hearn, Matt Goldklang, Perrine Toledano

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment

Understanding the diverse types of climate change-related risks is crucial for developing effective strategies to address the global climate crisis. A holistic yet disaggregated approach allows for a comprehensive view of the challenges while enabling targeted responses from various stakeholders. This document outlines three main categories of climate-related risks: planetary, economic, and financial, detailing their relevance to various stakeholders, timeframes, and potential response strategies.

This short brief aims to disentangle the complex nature of risk discussions for productive discourse and appropriate risk management approaches for different stakeholders. In practice, discussions related to assessing and responding to climate change risk have …

Destroy, Rebuild, Repeat: How To Break The Climate Disaster Cycle, Mark P. Nevitt

Faculty Articles

Climate change is fundamentally reshaping how we live, where we live, and whether we invest in or retreat from climate-exposed communities—but climate and disaster law is not changing with the climate. This legal latency is driven by antiquated statutes, doctrines, and policies that have not kept pace with the climate moment. Ex ante adaptation decisions governing where to live are life and death choices that shape ex post disaster response. Laws and policies should facilitate sound climate decisionmaking, but too often they frustrate individual and governmental decisions on whether to stay or retreat. In this Article, I argue that laws …

Constitutionalizing Climate Rights, Mark P. Nevitt

Faculty Articles

This Essay proceeds in three Parts. In Part I, I describe and analyze which states have climate and environmental amendments within their state constitutions. Here, I focus on three states (Hawaii, Montana, and Pennsylvania) that have comparably strong Green Amendments and have experienced litigation in recent years enforcing these constitutional provisions. I describe and analyze three cases: Navahine F. v. Hawaii Department of Transportation (Hawaii), Held v. Montana (Montana), and Robinson Township (Pennsylvania). I argue that these three decisions—all of which enjoyed varying degrees of success—will spur greater efforts to constitutionalize state environmental rights. Indeed, there are grassroot efforts within …

Renewable Energy Federalism 2.0, Danielle Stokes

Law Faculty Publications

Much like climate change, the clean energy transition presents a “super wicked” problem that is further complicated by prioritizing justice. History has taught us that government regulation, industry innovation, and community engagement are the catalysts of effective transitions. Similarly, the just energy transition requires the support of these interconnected networks. This Essay offers sustainable collaborative governance as a theoretical framework through which decision-makers may filter their assessments, industry can model its metrics, and community can develop language to articulate its needs. Sustainable collaborative governance is also a means of navigating the complexities of renewable energy siting and regulation while fostering …

Climate Prosecution As Climate Regulation, Cindy J. Cho

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Last term, the Supreme Court weakened the federal government’s ability to regulate. Three new decisions—and one landmark case from the previous term—will affect everything from drug approvals to overtime pay to national security. One issue stands out as a political flashpoint that will prove particularly difficult to address via regulation in the wake of this term: climate change. Given the unlikelihood of congressional climate action any time soon, those concerned about the risks of a warming planet will no doubt be looking for alternatives to regulation. Private and state civil lawsuits against polluters reflect an important legal tradition that must …

Filling The Gaps: How An Environmental Rights Amendment Can Save Minnesota's Shorelines, Christine Gale

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Color Of Carbon: Racial Capitalism, Climate Change, And Law, Sumudu Atapattu, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Faculty Publications & Other Works

Climate change is a direct consequence of capitalism’s drive to maximize profits through the unbridled extraction of wealth from humans and nature, aided and abetted at every turn by law. In its voracious demand for cheap labor, cheap raw materials, and cheap waste disposal, capitalism has created a treadmill of fossil fuel–dependent production and consumption that has triggered a planetary emergency. It has also produced extreme economic inequality—a racialized division of wealth grounded in colonialism that enables the ultrarich to capture the spoils of the capitalist global economy while billions of people continue to live in extreme poverty. The articles …

Tides Of Power: Coastal Conservation Association V. State And The Clash Of Environmental Rights, Legislative Authority, And Judicial Limits In North Carolina, Dylan Long

Campbell Law Review

Environmental policy in North Carolina has primarily been within the discretion of the General Assembly. There has been little judicial determination as to what duty, if any, the state has in maintaining its natural resources for public use. North Carolina courts have provided limited judicial input on the General Assembly’s minimum, constitutionally required duty to protect the state’s natural resources. The courts’ sparse decisions have been inconsistent on what the legislature’s minimal obligations are. A recent and ongoing case has brought this issue to a head. The courts will soon be required to rule on the merits of this issue, …

A Human Right To A Sustainable Climate?, Ottavio Quirico

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Is a fundamental right to a sustainable climate progressively being recognized globally? Climate change is triggering parallel progressive developments in the human rights arena at both the domestic and international levels. Firstly, it is fostering an extensive interpretation of first- and second-generation human rights, protecting collective environmental interests rather than individual entitlements. Secondly, climate change has decisively accelerated the evolution of first and second generation human rights into a third generation right to a sustainable environment. Thirdly, emerging evidence discloses the possibility of conceiving a specific human right to a sustainable climate. This Article explores the trajectory of climate rights …

Recent Expansion Of Gubernatorial Emergency Powers To Address The Covid-19 Pandemic: Examining Applications For The Climate Crisis, Juliet Israel

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

With a particular focus on the states of California and Florida, this Note delves into the leadership roles assumed by governors when addressing the global COVID-19 pandemic, evaluates the applicability of this gubernatorial strategy to the climate crisis, and examines the criticisms and constitutional challenges to expanding gubernatorial emergency powers. Part I explores the core similarities and differences between the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change. Part II addresses the failure of federal and international policy responses to both the pandemic and climate change. Part III details the states’ use of gubernatorial emergency powers to respond to COVID-19. Part IV then …

Lessons Learned From The Mountain Valley Pipeline: Can Nature's Rights Or Environmental Justice Be The New Mvps In Pipeline Litigation?, Caitlin Kwalwasser

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

This Note will provide an introduction and proscriptive application of two litigation strategies for future pipeline litigation by using the MVP [Mountain Valley Pipeline] as a case study: (1) environmental justice and (2) nature’s rights. To understand how these strategies differ from the present, Part I will first examine the primary way opponents sought to prevent construction in the case of the MVP: challenging agency findings. Then, Part II will provide context for the two proposed litigation strategies. Finally, Part III will describe possibilities for how these strategies might be employed to prevent the construction of future pipelines.

This Note …

Made In The Usa: A Prison Of Our Own Emissions: Examining The Carbon Footprint Of Mass Incarceration From A Global Perspective, Raina Machisen

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Part I will address the concept of Mass Incarceration and carbon footprints. Part II will describe and compare the current energy consumption level of the United States’ prisons and carbon emissions with the United Kingdom’s prisons’ green infrastructure. Part III suggests potential prison programs that encourage both rehabilitation and carbon reduction. Part IV discusses the origins of Mass Incarceration, potential policy solutions to reduce prison populations, and the prospect of repurposing unused prisons.

This abstract has been taken from the author's introduction.

Anti-Democratic Rights Of Nature, Noah M. Sachs

Law Faculty Publications

The global Rights of Nature (RoN) movement, which seeks to confer enforceable rights on organisms and ecosystems, has become a political force, and governments are now codifying legal rights for nature in legislation. But policymakers and legal scholars are overlooking how assertions of vague rights held by a limitless class of non-humans could lead to repressive, anti-democratic outcomes. Many scholars view recognition of nature’s rights as an expansion of the boundaries of democracy, but a critical examination of RoN scholarship and advocacy shows that RoN principles are designed to check and constrain democratic institutions. Core tenets of the RoN movement …

Table Of Contents, Public Interest Law Reporter

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.