Congratulations to our Class of 2019 graduates. Read more about them and our program’s recent work below. Here’s to a productive June!

Cara Horowitz , co-executive director, Emmett Institute

Photo credit: Nurit Katz

Nine UCLA Law J.D. graduates in the Class of 2019 earned a specialization in environmental law: Jennifer Garlock , Alexandra Gay , Kelsey Harrison , Kayla Karimi , Stephanie Oehler , Mark Rutherford , Eric Sezgen , Sunjana Supekar , and Emily Waterhouse . Congratulations! Learn more about the specialization .

Photo credit: Sunjana Supekar

A new book edited by Ann Carlson and Dallas Burtraw, Resources for the Future, examines the Clean Air Act to identify lessons for future climate and energy policymaking in the U.S. at the federal and state levels. The book includes a chapter from William Boyd on National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Carlson recently shared insights from the book at a talk for students at the University of Chicago.

At an event on June 10 in Washington, D.C. Carlson , Burtraw, and others will highlight how conclusions presented in the book can be used to guide and create effective energy policies at all levels of government. Emmett Institute board member  Henry Waxman will deliver a keynote address . Details/RSVP.

In a Legal Planet blog post , William Boyd argues forests and land use are likely to turn out to be the most important, but also the hardest, part of the climate change challenge.

This month, Boyd led an annual meeting of the Governors' Climate and Forests Task Force, a network which includes 38 member states and provinces, covering more than one-third of the world’s tropical forests.

At the meeting, President of Colombia Iván Duque Márquez highlighted the importance of the network in the global fight against deforestation. Nine governors from the Amazon basin in Ecuador, Peru, Brazil and Bolivia pledged to continue collaboration on transboundary efforts to protect the Amazon region. See more outcomes.

Photo credit: Governors' Climate and Forests Task Force

Our symposium at UCLA Law next Thursday, June 6, 2019 will explore California's status and future as an environmental pioneer.

Panelists will examine the successes and challenges faced during Governor Brown's tenure in office. With Governor Newsom now at the helm, we will also look at today's environmental leadership opportunities. CARB chair and Emmett Institute board member Mary Nichols will deliver a keynote address. Details/RSVP.

Photo credit: Joe Wolf, Flickr

In a new book , Emmett/Frankel Fellow Jesse Reynolds draws on law, political science, and economics to show how solar geoengineering is, could, and should be governed.

Reynolds also recommends how solar geoengineering could be responsibly researched, developed, and - if appropriate - used in ways that would improve human well-being and ensure sustainability. Learn more about the book and read Reynolds' Legal Planet blog post .

Alex Wang took part in trainings for environmental judges in China, with sessions in Chongqing and at the National Judges College in Beijing. Wang spoke about the enforcement of environmental permits in the U.S.

Wang also contributed a section on China's Belt and Road Initiative to a new report from WWF and The Nature Conservancy on protecting free-flowing rivers as renewable energy systems expand worldwide. Learn more.

Ann Carlson   joined lawmakers, advocates, and academics at the Hawaii State Capitol this month to discuss legal strategies for the state to respond to global warming.

The event included remarks from Hawaii's U.S. Senators Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz and Hawaii State Representative Nicole Lowen.

Carlson spoke with Hawaiʻi Public Radio about cities and states across the U.S. suing oil companies for climate damages.

Julia Stein , Charoula Melliou LL.M. ’19 and Divya Rao '20 presented their report on federal responses to plastic waste at the South Brentwood Residents Association's May 2, 2019 meeting.

Stein delivered a keynote address and joined a panel to discuss local sustainability issues with Senator Ben Allen; Councilmember Mike Bonin; Dr. Melissa Turcotte, LA County Department of Public Works; and Lori Yalem, Homeboy Recycling.

Photo credit: Daniel Melling

Julia Stein , Cara Horowitz , and Harjot Kaur submitted a comment letter on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Energy Conservation Standards for General Service Lamps.

The authors argue that the Department of Energy’s efforts to narrow the reach of lightbulb efficiency standards would sacrifice consumer savings and environmental protection in direct contravention of legislative mandates pursuant to the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. Learn more.

Photo credit: U.S. Department of Energy, Flickr

Nanotechnology, synthetic biology and other emerging technologies present uncertain and highly subjective risks to infrastructure, social, and information systems, requiring new approaches for managing unknown, uncharacterized, and low-probability events.

In a chapter for a new book on the resilience of socio-technical systems, Tim Malloy and co-authors point to governance strategies that could help organizations and governments respond to systemic risks and future threats. Learn more.

Sean Hecht moderated a plenary panel on climate risk and responsibility at North American Carbon World in Los Angeles. Speakers on the panel included Ricardo Lara, California Insurance Commissioner; Annie Notthoff, NRDC; Jerry Schubel, Aquarium of the Pacific; and Chris Thompson, SCE. Watch the video.

Photo credit: @climatereserve, Twitter
May trivia corner

This month, Emmett Institute faculty and staff toured the UCLA Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden and learned that Los Angeles shares its Mediterranean climate with a few other regions in the world. One is obviously the region around the Mediterranean Sea. 

Can you name two other countries that include regions with a Mediterranean climate?

Please send responses to quizmaster Daniel Melling, melling@law.ucla.edu to win an Emmett Institute-themed prize.

Congratulations to Eric Adair on his past victory! Under Los Angeles' "Green New Deal" plan , the average Angeleno will drive 9 miles per day in 2035, down from 15 miles per day today.

Photo credit: Nurit Katz

Emmett Institute faculty are organizing and participating in events and talks over the next few months:

June 2-7, 2019 | Newry, ME
Tim Malloy will present on aligning risk governance and innovation. Learn more.

June 6, 2019 | UCLA School of Law
An Emmett Institute symposium will explore California's status and future as an environmental pioneer. Details/RSVP.

June 10, 2019 | Carnegie Institution for Science , Washington, D.C.
This event will highlight how conclusions presented in Ann Carlson and Dallas Burtraw's new book on the Clean Air Act can be used to guide and create effective energy policies at all levels of government.  Emmett Institute board member Henry Waxman will deliver a keynote address. Details/RSVP.

June 14, 2019 | Sacramento, CA
Ann Carlson will join a public meeting for members of a committee tasked with analyzing the environmental and economic performance of California's cap-and-trade program and other relevant climate policies. Learn more.

June 20-22, 2019 | Vermont Law School
Ann Carlson will speak at a conference organized by the Environmental Law Center at Vermont Law School on new directions in environmental law curriculum. Details/RSVP.

August 5 – 11, 2019 | Banff, Alberta, Canada
The Emmett Institute, in partnership with the Forum for Climate Engineering Assessment, the Solar Radiation Management Governance Initiative, and the Harvard Solar Geoengineering Research Program, will bring together an international group of leading experts with post-graduate students, early-career researchers, and professionals seeking to develop expertise in the field, to facilitate intensive, collaborative explorations of the societal, political, governance, and ethical aspects of geoengineering. Details/RSVP.

Photo credit: Daniel Melling
Daniel Melling writes the Emmett Institute newsletter with editing from Sean Hecht and Cara Horowitz. Please send any feedback to melling@law.ucla.edu .
About the Emmett Institute
The Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment is the country's leading law school center focused on climate change and other critical environmental issues. Founded in 2008 with a generous gift from Dan A. Emmett and his family, the Institute works across disciplines to develop and promote research and policy tools useful to decision makers locally, statewide, nationally and beyond. Our Institute serves as a premier source of environmental legal scholarship, nonpartisan expertise, policy analysis and training.   Learn more.