Principal Maddie Boyer (Austin) and Associate Brook Detterman (Boston) were quoted in an article in the May 2019 issue of Washington Lawyer titled "Climate Change: Turning to Law in Race Against Time." The article focuses on the increasing role that law plays in the climate change arena as advocates turn to litigation to pressure their governments into action.

The article notes that while the international community is responding to concerns over climate change by pledging to take action through initiatives like the Paris Agreement, implementing those policies is no simple task. Under the Paris Agreement, each country has pledged to prepare, communicate, and maintain a "nationally determined contribution" toward controlling greenhouse gas emissions by a particular date, most commonly 2030. However, Brook points out that participating countries have still yet to agree on a program to facilitate international trading of carbon credits or allowances, and some countries have yet to agree on the terms of a carbon offset program at all.

Regardless of complications, the international community continues to push toward action. The Paris Agreement isn't the only large-scale effort to address climate change and other environmental issues, and many individual countries are changing their laws and policies when it comes to carbon emissions and other areas related to climate change and environmental protection. In Latin America and South America, for example, countries such as Brazil, Columbia, Peru, and Argentina have developed and are increasingly enforcing a variety of environmental laws.

Maddie points out that some of the receptiveness in these countries is driven by reality. "For example, glacier melt directly affects agricultural production. Electric utility grids are at maximum capacity," she said. "Climate change has very real human and economic impacts that provide motivation for legal response."

Click here for the full article.