CleanLaw

EELP's Executive Director Carrie Jenks, Associate Director Sara Dewey, and Senior Staff Attorney Erika Kranz discuss recent developments in greenhouse gas regulation and litigation. They compare these actions, highlight what they’re watching for next, and consider the implications for future climate policy.

Transcript and related resources available on our website https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/cleanlaw-whats-happening-with-us-greenhouse-gas-regulation-and-litigation/

In this CleanLaw quick Take, EELP’s Sara Dewey and Abby Husselbee discuss recent developments in corporate climate disclosure. Since the profusion of voluntary corporate net-zero targets set in the early 2020s, the policy landscape shaping disclosure requirements on corporate greenhouse gas emissions, climate-related risks, and more has been in flux. Sara and Abby talk about recent developments, including the Salata Institute’s new Corporate Climate Targets Database, and what they’ll be watching for in the US and the EU as California’s climate disclosure requirements take effect.

EELP founding director and Harvard Law professor Jody Freeman talks with Mike Toffel, a professor at Harvard Business School and faculty chair of the HBS Business and Environment Initiative, and Joe Aldy, a professor of the practice of environmental policy at Harvard Kennedy School. Jody, Mike, and Joe discuss the Salata Institute Corporate Climate Targets Database, a new tool they've developed to track climate commitments and emissions trends across Russell 3000 companies over the past 25 years. They discuss insights from the database, such as how companies respond when a target is set and how they adapt to shifting regulatory requirements. This free, interactive tool will help researchers evaluate which policies drive decarbonization and what durable, effective climate disclosure policy could look like at the federal level.

Transcript: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/EP119-Transcript.pdf

Corporate Climate Targets Project dashboard: https://salatainstitute.harvard.edu/cctp/

The Salata Institute’s Corporate Climate Targets Research Initiative: https://salatainstitute.harvard.edu/research-initiatives/corporate-climate-targets-project/

Electricity demand is surging, driven by data centers and the broader shift toward electrification. The United States faces a critical question: can the country build the energy infrastructure it needs fast enough to support economic growth while advancing the clean energy transition?

As Congress debates the scope and timing for permitting reforms, we are sharing a special joint episode of CleanLaw and Climate Rising recorded earlier this summer. EELP Founding Director and Harvard Law School Professor Jody Freeman and Harvard Business School Professor Mike Toffel sit down with Nat Keohane, president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, to discuss why building new energy infrastructure has become so difficult, what permitting reforms could accelerate clean energy deployment and transmission, how AI is reshaping this debate, and why solving these challenges may be essential to both climate progress and American competitiveness.

EELP Associate Director Sarah Dewey talks to Andy Mergen, clinical professor and faculty director of the Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard and award-winning journalist, Ben Goldfarb, author of Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of the Planet. They discuss the US Forest Service proposal to rescind the 2001 roadless rule, the ecological value of roadless areas in our national forests, and what we can expect if the proposal is finalized. The comment period is open until October 6, 2026. 

For a transcript and related links see our website https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/cleanlaw-forest-service-proposes-to-remove-protections-from-roadless-areas/

EELP Senior Attorney Erika Kranz speaks with Andy Mergen, Clinical Professor and Faculty Director of the Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, and Sommer Engels, Clinical Instructor with the Clinic. They take listeners behind the scenes at the U.S. Department of Justice to explain the role of its Environment and Natural Resources Division, or ENRD.

Erika, Andy, and Sommer, all ENRD alumni, describe how DOJ and ENRD fit within the federal government, what ENRD litigators do, and what it’s like to represent federal agencies in court. They also discuss how ENRD works with — and sometimes has to push back on — its client agencies across the federal government.

And they talk about recent shifts at the division — including new arguments made, reduced environmental enforcement, changed approaches to litigation and settlement, and a renaming of the division itself — and explain why those changes matter.

For a transcript and related links see our website https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/cleanlaw-dojs-environment-and-natural-resources-division-past-and-present/

EELP Executive Director Carrie Jenks talks with EELP Senior Attorney Erika Kranz about the Trump administration’s efforts to stop or delay offshore wind development. They discuss the industry’s complex permitting regulatory environment, the challenges the administration’s actions have faced in court, and what’s at stake for the future of clean energy.

Transcript: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/CleanLaw-Episode-115-Offshore-Wind-Development-Under-Trump.pdf

Professor and EELP Founding Director Jody Freeman and Professor Richard Lazarus talk with three HLS students about what drew them to environmental law, their experience at the Emmett Environmental Law Center, including working at EELP and in the environmental law and policy clinic, favorite courses, and what life at HLS is really like.

Transcript: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/CleanLaw-114.pdf

EELP Staff Attorney Erika Kranz talks with Andy Mergen, Director of the Harvard Emmett Environmental Law & Policy Clinic, about the recent decision to exempt oil and gas exploration and development in the Gulf of Mexico from complying with the Endangered Species Act.

The administration has invoked a never-before-used national security provision to bypass the Endangered Species Committee's normal, process-intensive exemption procedure. Andy and Erika break down how the Act usually works and why this maneuver is so legally extraordinary. They discuss why the administration's litigation-focused explanation is surprising, how this approach short-circuits potential action by courts and Congress, what may happen with legal challenges to this exemption decision, and what it may mean for endangered species protections in the Gulf. Note: Andy's views are his own.

Transcript: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/CleanLaw-EP113-Transcript.pdf

EELP Founding Director and Harvard Law Professor Jody Freeman speaks with Sue Biniaz, former Principal Deputy Special Envoy for Climate at the US State Department and lecturer at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs. For nearly three decades, Sue served as the United States’ lead climate lawyer and climate negotiator. Together, Jody and Sue break down the significance of the recent US announcement to withdraw from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. They explain what the UNFCC does, the domestic and international legal implications of withdrawal, and what this move—along with the earlier withdrawal from the Paris Agreement—means for US credibility on the global stage. They also look ahead, exploring how climate progress can continue beyond the UNFCC and Paris, and the need to develop bipartisan consensus for durable climate actions. 

Transcript: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/CleanLaw-EP112-Transcript.pdf

Legal and Practical Implications of the U.S. Withdrawal from the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change by Sue Biniaz and Jean Galbraith https://www.justsecurity.org/128687/implications-us-withdrawal-unfccc/