Climate Judiciary Project
New! Listen to our latest podcast interview, where Sandy Nichols Thiam and Dr. Paul Hanle discuss highlights from the project.
Climate-related lawsuits in the U.S. have grown in number from a few, mostly administrative cases before 2015 to scores of cases today. These include not only regulatory claims, but torts, public trust, and fraud and consumer protection cases, among others. With growing public concern about climate change and stasis on the issue in Congress, groups pressing for climate action are seeking a way forward through the courts.
As the body of climate litigation grows, judges must consider complex scientific and legal questions, many of which are developing rapidly. To address these issues, the Climate Judiciary Project of the Environmental Law Institute is collaborating with leading national judicial education institutions to meet judges’ need for basic familiarity with climate science methods and concepts. We are developing and disseminating a climate science and law curriculum and are conducting seminars and educational programs, in collaboration with leading climate scientists and legal experts. The goal of our project is to provide neutral, objective information to the judiciary about the science of climate change as it is understood by the expert scientific community and relevant to current and future litigation.
ELI has a track record of delivering highly-respected U.S. and international judicial education programs spanning more than three decades. This program holds true to ELI’s course of nonpartisanship and nonadvocacy, drawing deeply on ELI’s commitment to high quality, bias-free content. Our collaborators, among them faculty of leading universities, government and private research institutions, and members of the National Academies of Sciences, are likewise known for their impartiality and are at the top of their fields in science and judicial education.
Our shared vision is to make available to federal, state, and local judges the basic science they need to adjudicate the climate litigation over which they preside.
For more information, contact us at climatejudiciary@eli.org.
- Recent News
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In September 2022, the Climate Judiciary Project and the National Judicial College co-hosted a judicial education program for the Judicial Leaders in Climate Science. State court judges from 21 states and the Republic of Puerto Rico attended a 3-day program at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Programming included focused sessions with distinguished experts on climate science and law topics.
In November 2021, ELI participated in the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. ELI’s Climate Judiciary Project brought an important message to the summit: a judiciary informed on the basics of climate science is key to effectively addressing the climate crisis. During the summit week, ELI hosted a roundtable workshop on “Using Science and the Law for Ensuring Accountability and Compliance with Climate Regimes,” as part of Climate Law & Governance Day. Sandra Nichols Thiam also presented on Climate Change Legislation, Litigation, and the Rule of Law in an event hosted by the University of Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance.
- Climate Science and Law for Judges Curriculum
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- How Climate Science Works, Paul A. Hanle & Michael D. Mastrandrea
- What is Causing Climate Change?, Inez Y. Fung (available January 2023)
- Impacts of Climate Change, Katharine J. Mach
- Climate Justice, Jonathan Levy & Amruta Nori-Sarma (available January 2023)
- The Risks and Costs of Climate Change, Gary W. Yohe (available January 2023)
- Drawing the Causal Chain: The Detection and Attribution of Climate Change, Michael F. Wehner (available January 2023)
- Solving the Climate Change Problem, Stephen W. Pacala (available January 2023)
- Overview of Climate Litigation, Sandra Nichols Thiam & Jarryd C. Page (available January 2023)
- Applying Attribution: Impacts of Climate Attribution Science on Tort Litigation, Douglas A. Kysar & Isabella Soparkar (available January 2023)
- Government Action and Climate Science, Jessica Wentz (available January 2023)
- Fundamental Rights and Climate Change, Barry Hill & Jarryd C. Page (available January 2023)
- Procedural Techniques Available for Climate Litigation, Robin Kundis Craig
For more information about the curriculum, please contact Jarryd Page at page@eli.org.
- Additional Resources
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- NOAA, State of the Climate (Monthly Reports)
- U.S. Global Change Research Program, Fourth National Climate Assessment, Vol. 1: Climate Science Special Report (2017)
- U.S. Global Change Research Program, Fourth National Climate Assessment, Vol. 2: Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States (2018)
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change, Sixth Assessment Report, United Nations (2022)
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, Sixth Assessment Report, United Nations (2022)
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis, Sixth Assessment Report, United Nations (2021)
- Michael Burger, Radley Horton, and Jessica Wentz, The Law and Science of Climate Change Attribution, Columbia Journal of Environmental Law (2020)
- National Academy of Sciences, Climate Change: Evidence and Causes: Update 2020, The National Academies Press (2020)
- National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Attribution of Extreme Weather Events in the Context of Climate Change, The National Academies Press (2016)
- James E.A. Rehwaldt, Using Issue Certification Against a Defendant Class to Establish Causation in Climate Change Litigation, Environmental Law Reporter, 52 ELR 10292, (2022)
