By Michael Gerrard and John Dernbach
Scientific reports, coming in a steady stream, are highlighting the urgency of reducing greenhouse gas emissions so as to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Already, hurricanes, coastal and inland flooding, wildfires, heat waves and other extreme weather events are causing severe economic damage and loss of life, and their increasing severity has been attributed to climate change. The decades to come promise to be even worse. Engineers, economists and others have long been proposing ways to cut back on emissions and thereby prevent an excessive rise in global temperatures. However, some of these methods have faced legal obstacles, and others have not enjoyed sufficient incentives. Now we are making a legal toolkit available with more than 1,000 specific recommendations for actions at the federal, state and local levels and in the private sector that could help advance the technical tools already available. Many lawyers are needed to help these recommendations become reality. As discussed below, we are setting up a system for lawyers to volunteer to undertake this work.
Read the report How Lawyers Can Help Save the Planet in Columbia Law School's Scholarship Archive.