Environmental Law

“Insurance is the climate crisis canary in the coal mine, and the canary is dying,” said Dave Jones, director of the Climate Risk Initiative at the University of California, Berkeley, Center for Law, Energy and the Environment.

The opposing positions of the national and state government create unpredictability for the companies that make vehicles. “That creates uncertainty for industry and could help ensure that we’re burning more fossil fuel and more gas guzzlers can be produced in the meantime,” said Ethan Elkind, director of the climate program at the UC Berkeley School of Law.

Dave Jones, director of the Climate Risk Initiative at UC Berkeley Law discusses how climate risk is no longer a “nice to have”, especially as climate disclosure requirements are becoming a regulatory obligation globally and delves into the role of insurance in managing climate risk, the importance of nature-based solutions, and the need for transparency and proactive measures in corporate practices.

Ken Alex, director of Project Climate at UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment, discusses the new report he co-authored  looking at the cost savings of all-electric construction.

The waiver was created to address California’s unique circumstances of not only pioneering and leading the country in the creation of air-quality and air-emissions control policy, but also of having very specific air-pollution challenges relating to vehicles, geography and industry, said Ted Lamm, associate director of the Center for Law, Energy and the Environment at the University of California, Berkeley. “It’s a bedrock part of the Clean Air Act.”

“Even with the right regulations in place, insurers aren’t known for embracing change,” said Dave Jones, California’s former Department of Insurance head who now runs the Climate Risk Initiative at UC Berkeley Law. “It’s a very conservative industry. You need to show them that an insurer is able to (make money doing this) before others will follow suit.” 

Ethan Elkind, director of the Climate Program at the Center for Law, Energy and the Environment, UC Berkeley School of Law joins Forum to discuss the impact of Trump’s approach to the environment and how California could respond.

Professor Claudia Polsky, director of the Environmental Law Clinic, weighs in on toxic heavy metals found in fire retardant gathered from the LA fires. “To me this situation is disturbing if unsurprising.”

Ken Alex, director of Project Climate at UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy, & Environment joins Your Call to discuss the Trump administration’s attack on environmental protections.

“It seems to me that the motivation for recommending reconsideration is more ideological than strategic,” said Professor Daniel Farber, faculty director Center for Law, Energy & the Environment. “Trying to overturn the science behind the climate finding is a fool’s errand.”