Climate Change
Dear 2026 1L
Today’s entering law students are preparing to start careers at a critical time for the environment.
Welcome to law school. You’re beginning your life in the law at a critical time. What we do together between now and 2035 will determine what your lives look like in 2050 and 2080, and what your children and grandchildren will see in the next century. So, grab your books, get yourselves ready, and be prepared to head for the legal trenches when you graduate. No time to waste!
You May Have Forgotten About Climate Change. But It Hasn’t Forgotten About You
Denial is a great coping mechanism. Until reality turns around and bites you.
Climate change is, apparently, passé. Democratic politicians are avoiding the topic and dialing back ambitious plans to reduce emissions. The President apparently doesn’t think it exists, and the government’s official position is that its effects are too uncertain to worry about. Denial isn’t the world’s best coping mechanism, but it works, at least temporarily. The problem is that, while sometimes that lump you were worried about does go away, sometimes it keep growing and getting harder to treat. In the end, reality doesn’t much care whether you believe in it.
CONTINUE READINGStrategies for the 2030s
We lost the Battle of 2025. But we haven’t last the fight for sustainability.
Two recent models have some welcome news: Trump’s rollbacks and assault on the Inflation Reduction Act have not been as cataclysmic as feared. At least not yet. The models come from different sources — an MIT researcher and the Rhodium firm — using different methodologies. The models also have implications about the next steps in climate policy. Both models highlight the critical need to rip down barriers to clean energy and transmission build out.
CONTINUE READINGBring Back “Trump Classic”
The original version of Trump was bad. The current version is much worse.
Trump has succeeded in his second term in making every past President including even himself look better. We’re now almost a year and a half into Trump’s second term. From almost every point of view, it’s worse than his first term. It reminds me of the “New Coke” that Coca Cola once introduced, which was a disaster that led to the reintroduction of what was then dubbed “Coke Classic.” Trump Classic was committed to fossil fuels and eliminating environmental protections. But in almost every respect, his policies were less radical and his methods were less drastic.
The GCF Task Force Expands at 16th Annual Meeting
Photo by Government of Caquetá, Colombia.
The Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force has grown from 45 to 54 member jurisdictions to cover even more of the world’s tropical forests.
The world’s largest subnational network dedicated to protecting forests, reducing emissions, and enhancing livelihoods across the tropics just got a lot bigger. Following a vote at our 16th Annual Meeting in Caquetá, Colombia from May 18 – 22, 2026, the Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force (GCF Task Force) grew from 45 to 54 member …
Continue reading “The GCF Task Force Expands at 16th Annual Meeting”
CONTINUE READINGThink No One Writes Climate Songs? Here are 400
The Drain is a weekly roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
You might assume most musicians are silent on climate change and the environment. But you’d be wrong. This Earth Day, I started a Climate Playlist because frankly I didn’t see many comprehensive ones out there. My first attempt was three dozen songs. But I got additions from readers, friends and colleagues and then I …
Continue reading “Think No One Writes Climate Songs? Here are 400”
CONTINUE READINGTrump and Xi Meet in Beijing
As the U.S. and China meet, climate change is NOT on the agenda.
When Presidents Trump and Xi meet this week in Beijing, climate and environment will not be on the agenda. That absence is striking, because the U.S. and China are now moving in radically different directions on climate, energy, and environmental protection. The US is in an extraordinarily anti-environmental moment. It has exited both the Paris …
Continue reading “Trump and Xi Meet in Beijing”
CONTINUE READINGMethane, Exposed
Two new reports from the UCLA Emmett Institute reveal some of the largest methane sources in 2025.
One of the transformations in the climate policy world over the last few years has been the (rightful and helpful) rise in focus on methane pollution. For a long while, carbon dioxide was the attention-grabbing greenhouse gas, the one at which most policy initiatives were aimed. And CO2 remains critically important, of course. But folks …
Continue reading “Methane, Exposed”
CONTINUE READINGCommunity Benefits Aren’t Impossible – They Just Take Work
A statewide strategy by the California Coastal Commission and a fisheries working group provides a model for community benefits on infrastructure and other projects
For California is to reach its climate goals, including a target of net zero GHG emissions by 2045, a variety of private- and public-sector approaches are necessary; among them is the construction and permitting of numerous clean energy infrastructure projects, such as offshore wind developments, which will play a key role in balancing the state’s …
Continue reading “Community Benefits Aren’t Impossible – They Just Take Work”
CONTINUE READING$75k and a Dead Bird
The origins of California’s inverse condemnation doctrine and how it increases electricity rates.
Last week, the California Earthquake Authority (“CEA”) released a major new report titled Enhancing California’s Resiliency to Natural Catastrophes . The legislatively-mandated report, which I wrote about earlier, provides recommendations to address the unsustainable financial losses faced by electric utilities, insurance companies, and the public, as climate change-driven wildfires cause catastrophic damage across the state. …
Continue reading “$75k and a Dead Bird”
CONTINUE READINGJoin Our Mailing List
Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.
