A Summary of the Key Activities of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
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Projects The Sabin Center currently focuses its work within four programmatic areas: Cross-cutting Issues & Initiatives, Energy Law, Environmental & Land Use Law, and International & Foreign Law. The Center’s thought leadership and direct engagement operate at the international, national, state and local levels.
Cross-cutting Issues & Initiatives Climate Change Litigation
The Sabin Center tracks, analyzes, and submits amicus briefs in U.S. and global climate change litigation. Talks
• Daniel Metzger presented on litigation risk in the insurance industry at Using hindsight and foresight: Enhancing the insurance industry’s assessment of climate change futures, a webinar hosted by UNEP’s Principles for Sustainable Insurance Initiative. • Daniel Metzger spoke on the topic of trends in international climate litigation as a panelist at the 15th International Congress on Environmental Law in Brazil. • Daniel Metzger participated in a panel at the Hawaii Bar Association’s annual conference on the topic of municipal lawsuits against fossil fuel companies and those cases’ national and international context. • Michael Gerrard spoke about the emergence of ethical issues in climate change litigation at a webinar on energy ethics and the law held by the Center for Commercial Law Studies of the University of London. • Michael Gerrard spoke about “Climate Change Litigation in the USA: Moving Beyond Statutes” at a webinar, “Climate Change in the Courts,” held by the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law
• Michael Gerrard spoke about the landscape of U.S. climate change litigation to the International Seminar on Climate Litigation as a Governance Tool held by Duke Kunshan University (China). • Michael Burger spoke at Strategic Climate Litigation: Insights from Global Experience, a London Climate Week event hosted by the London School of Economics. • Michael Burger delivered a keynote on global climate litigation at the Asia Pacific Judicial Conference on Climate Change. Publications
• The Sabin Center and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory launched, ClimateAttribution.org, a database of attribution studies with salience for law, policy and litigation. • The Asia Development Bank published the report series, Climate Change: Coming Soon to a Court Near You. Sabin Center members Michael Burger, Ama Francis and Hillary Aidun, and a number of summer interns, helped develop and author reports on litigation, legislation and climate science. Defending Climate Science
Talks
• Romany Webb participated in panel discussions on “Next Steps Where Climate Science, Law and Politics Collide” and “Science Advice in a Biden Presidency,” as part of the SustainWhat webinar series. • Hillary Aidun spoke about opportunities for the Biden Administration on the podcast Sustain What?
