Conferences & Symposia

Global Warming: How the Law Can Best Address Climate Change

Friday, June 8, 2007

In recent years, climate change has become an increasingly urgent global concern. It is now generally well-accepted that the atmosphere of our planet is warming, largely as the result of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions.

Further, there is wide recognition that this warming trend will have serious environmental, economic and geopolitical consequences. Projections of increased global temperatures present the prospect of rising sea levels and associated risks to coastal areas, increased risks of floods and droughts, new and exacerbated public health problems, and threats to biodiversity and the viability of numerous ecosystems. In addition, these risks, and the prospect of various means of addressing them, point towards major impacts on our economy and potentially dramatic shifts in the relative strengths and stability of various industry sectors. The impacts of climate change also involve substantial political problems and policy issues, both domestically and internationally.

This program will analyze domestic and international climate change initiatives that are currently being explored and consider ways in which our legal framework might promote appropriate actions within communities, both locally and globally. The program also will consider how lawyers may help to harmonize the emerging regional, state and local climate change regulatory systems in the United States; assist clients in preparing for future carbon regulation; and develop best practices for law offices seeking to reduce their own carbon footprint.

Sponsored by the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Environmental Law

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