phd in energy law

Research Programs

Environmental and Energy Law Program

Environmental law welcome reception, environmental justice at the epa and beyond, environmental law experts ‘way more optimistic’ than expected.

Teaching & Learning

The power to change power

June 7, 2024

Harvard Law expert Ari Peskoe explains how new federal energy rules might impact how Americans tap into the electricity grid and predicts legal challenges from opponents.

Harvard environmental law faculty, leadership discuss gift impact

May 16, 2024

Harvard Law’s Jody Freeman, Richard Lazarus, Andrew Mergen, and Carrie Jenks discuss the impact alumnus Dan Emmett’s $15 million gift to establish the Emmett Environmental Law Center will have for students, faculty, staff, and environmental law practitioners nationwide.

Harvard Law School receives $15 million to launch Emmett Environmental Law Center

A gift by alumnus Dan Emmett ’64 and the Emmett Foundation will bolster the work of the law school’s Environmental Law and Policy Clinic and Environmental and Energy Law Program.

Environmental law expert voices warning over Supreme Court

April 19, 2024

Richard Lazarus sees the Supreme Court's conservative majority as threat to environmental protections developed over past half century.

Lunch Talk: The Portent of the Current Supreme Court on the Future of Environmental Law

April 9, 2024

A presentation by Professor Richard Lazarus, followed by Q&A. Hosted by the Environmental & Energy Law Program and Emmett Law & Policy Clinic Space is…

‘Chevron deference’ faces existential test

January 17, 2024

Jody Freeman pinpoints the key question in the case before the Supreme Court: ‘Who decides when laws aren’t clear — courts or agencies?’

‘This is something that’s worth fighting for’

May 12, 2023

Robert Bullard, the ‘father of environmental justice' and the 2023 Horizon Award recipient, discusses what he sees as the struggle to address climate change

‘Why is it so hard to make environmental law?’

April 18, 2023

Harvard Law School Professor Professor Richard Lazarus tells the story of challenges and hope inherent in environmental law.

Combining forces to accelerate climate action here, there, now

February 15, 2023

The recipients of the first grants awarded by Harvard’s Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability will tackle a range of climate change challenges, seeking to reduce future warming and assist those whose lives already have been affected by the crisis.

Andrew Mergen will lead the Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard Law

January 3, 2023

Former Department of Justice chief and appellate lawyer Andrew Mergen will join Harvard Law School as director of the Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic.

How inflation act may help rescue greenhouse-gas goals of repealed Clean Power Plan

November 16, 2022

Harvard Law School professors Richard Lazarus and Jody Freeman discuss the importance of the Inflation Reduction Act in light of the Supreme Court’s decision to block the Obama-era Clean Power Plan.

A global beacon on climate change

October 28, 2022

This article was originally published in the Harvard Gazette. Jean Salata is a climate optimist, enough to often elicit a gentle eyeroll from his…

Hurricane Ian exposes cracks in Florida’s flood insurance market

October 14, 2022

Harvard Law expert Hannah Perls explains why so many Florida homeowners lack flood insurance and what should be done about it.

Cases in Brief: Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife with Richard Lazarus

April 29, 2022

In this installment of “Cases in Brief,” Harvard Law Professor Richard Lazarus ’79 discusses the landmark citizen-suit case, Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife (1992), which hindered the ability to bring environmental citizen suits for much of the 1990s.

Inspiring change

April 22, 2022

On Earth Day, we highlight some of the work being done by Harvard Law students, scholars, clinics, and programs to address some our most pressing environmental issues.

Harvard Law students track environmental laws and regulations across administrations

April 5, 2022

Since 2018, Harvard Law students have been tracking environmental laws and regulations across administrations.

‘It’s good to be back’

September 28, 2021

Harvard Law School employees share what they're looking forward to back on campus.

Evaluating President Biden’s first 100 days: Climate change policy

April 29, 2021

Hannah Perls ’20 and Hana Veselka Vizcarra of the Harvard Law School Environmental and Energy Law Program assess the new administration’s efforts to address climate change.

Regulatory Tracker

• Environmental Justice Tracker

Research Topics

• Administrative Law
• Clean Water
• Corporate Climate Risk
• Environmental Justice
• Methane Emissions
• Power Sector
• Mission and Approach
• For Students
• Electricity Law Initiative

CleanLaw Podcast

• EELP in the News
• Support Our Work

Latest News

• NRDC Fellowship for HLS Students or Recent Graduates

EELP 2025-2026 Legal Fellowship

• Supreme Court Overturns Chevron Doctrine, Expands Power of Judiciary
• CleanLaw — Monumental Decisions  

Welcome to the Environmental & Energy Law Program at Harvard Law School

We bring innovative and pragmatic legal analyses to improve environmental and climate outcomes and support clean energy

Tracking the regulatory steps to advance clean energy deployment and environmental protection, and provides an up-to-date and concise summary of both regulatory and litigation actions.

Federal Environmental Justice Tracker

Tracking both agency-specific updates and whole-of-government environmental justice initiatives including regulations, guidance, and orders.

EELP Research Areas

EELP faculty, staff, and students produce groundbreaking scholarship, cutting-edge legal analysis, and publications that explain the impacts of legislative and regulatory changes.

See our work in these areas:

• Disaster Policy
• Electricity Law
• Inflation Reduction Act
• Natural Resources Law
• State & Regional Climate Strategies

Challenging the Hidden Clean Energy Tax

Electricity Law Initiative submits comments supporting FERC's efforts to reduce costs for new power plants.

CleanLaw — 60 Years of Defending Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, Part 1

Hannah Perls speaks with Columbia Law Professor Olatunde Johnson about Louisiana v. EPA, disparate impacts, and the history and future of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

Evolving Regulatory Landscape for Net-Zero and Other Corporate Climate Commitments

Student Opportunities

EELP hires student research assistants to work closely with our attorneys on a variety of environmental and energy law projects.

Learn more and apply

EELP In the News

How Much Damage Can Lee Zeldin Do at the EPA?

Utilities’ hidden clean energy tax is at the heart of our energy challenges, no hurricane will make rich people leave florida.

Environmental and Energy Law Program

About the Environmental and Energy Law Program

The Environmental and Energy Law Program draws on the Law School’s long and rich tradition in environmental and natural resources law. We also engage the pressing modern questions around the clean energy transition, which is critical to decarbonize the economy and address the threats of climate change. The program features leading experts in environmental and energy law, environmental crime, administrative law, climate change, international environmental law, public lands, and natural resources law.

We also build on the University of Michigan’s outstanding interdisciplinary and dual degree programs—unmatched by any other law school—with the School for Environment and Sustainability, the Ford School of Public Policy, the Ross School of Business, the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, and the School of Public Health.

The program offers one of the most extensive environmental, natural resources, and energy law curricula among top law schools in the United States, as well as a superb environment law clinic in partnership with the National Wildlife Federation.

We sponsor an acclaimed lecture series on environmental and energy issues, which features leading voices from academia, government, environmental groups, and industry, as well as a speaker series focused on careers in environmental and energy law. 

Program highlights include a biennial conference every other Fall semester with our student Environmental Law Society, pro bono programs, the student-run Michigan Journal of Environmental and Administrative Law, and student participation in the National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition.

With its superb faculty, rigorous academic program, and unrivaled practical experiences for students, the Environmental and Energy Law Program has established Michigan Law as one of the top programs of its kind in the United States.

The Our Clean Energy Future conference convened students, professors, lawyers, government representatives, and industry leaders to reflect on developments and innovations in clean energy. 

EELP Lecture Series

The Environmental and Energy Law Program Lecture Series features speakers from a wide range of backgrounds in government, academia, public interest groups, industry, and private practice.

The lecture series offers Michigan Law students the opportunity to learn from leaders of environmental advocacy, government, and industry, builds relationships between the Law School and the environmental community and contributes to debates over the environmental and energy challenges facing our nation and the world. Students often meet privately with speakers during their visits to Michigan Law.

Some lecturers are co-sponsored by other schools and programs at the University of Michigan. All lectures are open to the public. Admission is free.

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September 4, 2024

David Spence , University of Texas School of Law

“Climate of Contempt: How to Rescue the U.S. Energy Transition from Voter Partisanship”

October 23, 2024

Sheila Foster , Columbia Climate School

“The State and Local Law Landscape for Climate Justice”

November 20, 2024

Michael Drysdale , Dorsey  &  Whitney  LLP

“The Supreme Court’s Last Term: Why You Should Care about the Four Horsemen of the Administrative Law Apocalypse”

April 8, 2024

• Kirti Datla , Director of Strategic Legal Advocacy, Earthjustice
• “Environmental Litigation, the Supreme Court’s New Statutory Interpretation Rules, and the Chevron Doctrine”

March 6, 2024

• Kate Konschnik , Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources Division, US Department of Justice
• “The Role of Enforcement in Tackling Climate Change and Advancing Environmental Justice”

February 14, 2024

• Lisa Benjamin , Lewis & Clark Law School
• “The SEC and Climate Disclosure”

January 22, 2024

• Gabriel Chan , University of Minnesota
• “Energy Justice in State Utility Regulation”

November 1, 2023

• Narayan Subramanian , US Department of Energy
• “An Agency Forged from Crises: The Department of Energy and its Role in Addressing the Climate Crisis Today”

October 11, 2023

• Heather Tanana , UCI  Law
• “Securing Tribal Water Rights after Arizona v. Navajo Nation”

September 19, 2023

• Ricky Revesz , New York University School of Law
• “Modernizing Regulatory Review”

Dual Degrees and Pro Bono Projects

Michigan Law offers a range of outstanding dual degree programs, including one of the only Law and Natural Resources ( JD / MS ) programs in the country. Michigan also offers superb Law and Public Policy ( JD / MPP ), Law and Business Administration ( JD / MBA ), and Law and Public Health ( JD / MHSA or MPH ) programs. 

In addition to its extensive course offerings, clinical work, and lectures and conferences, the Environmental Law and Policy Program offers students the opportunity to gain practical experience working on pro bono projects that are part of the Law School’s pro bono pledge. These opportunities, which are available to first-year students as well as 2Ls and 3Ls, allow students to work closely with faculty and other students on cutting-edge issues that promote environmental protection and sustainability efforts.

Environmental law brings together multiple disciplines in ways that exceed most other curricular and practice areas. 

Environmental attorneys are litigators, regulators, compliance officers, treaty negotiators, and policymakers; their work depends upon expertise in ecology, biology, chemistry, engineering, risk science, toxicology, public health, and resource management. 

To be successful, environmental attorneys must have the ability to work with people across disciplines and to translate complex scientific concepts into accessible language. At Michigan, that process starts with an interdisciplinary emphasis along with joint degree programs that no other top law school can match. 

Students seeking dual degrees may apply to the programs that interest them during their first or second year of law studies. Ad hoc dual degree programs can also be designed to fit the more narrowly tailored needs of individual students who wish to pursue careers in environmental and natural resources law.

In addition to dual degrees, Michigan Law offers a wide range of interdisciplinary opportunities for students interested in environmental law. Students can take environmental courses at other schools on campus, including the School for the Environment and Sustainability, the Ford School of Public Policy, the Ross School of Business, the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, and the School of Public Health.

Each year, Michigan Law students are eligible to apply for the Dow Sustainability Fellows Program, which awards $25,000 grants to students to work on interdisciplinary projects with students from other graduate and professional schools on campus, a program no other law school offers.

Students also have the opportunity to participate in a wide range of interdisciplinary programs sponsored by the Graham Sustainability Institute, the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise, the Center for Sustainable Systems, and the Institute for Energy Solutions. Few universities can offer its students more opportunities to explore different aspects of environmental issues than the University of Michigan.

Planet Blue

The Environmental Crimes Project 

Nearly 400 Michigan Law students collaborated beginning in Fall 2010 on the first comprehensive empirical study of environmental criminal prosecutions in the United States. The students obtained and reviewed court documents from nearly 2,000 cases prosecuted from January 1, 2005, through December 31, 2018, and created a searchable database about all pollution prosecutions investigated by the EPA during that time frame. 

The database facilitates research and analysis about criminal enforcement, including the charges that are most frequently brought, the size of the corporations involved, case outcomes, discretionary factors that make environmental violations criminal, and geographical disparities in criminal enforcement under the environmental laws. Research results have been published by the Harvard Environmental Law Review, the Michigan Journal of Environmental and Administrative Law, the American Bar Association, and the Environmental Law Institute and have been featured in the New York Times.

The Green Gavels Project 

Every year, the Michigan Supreme Court makes decisions that have a critical impact on environmental protection and natural resources use. The Court’s role is likely to increase in future years as the state grapples with issues pertaining to water rights, water contamination, sulfide mining, land use, and air quality. 

The Green Gavels Project began in 2012 with a review of Michigan Supreme Court decisions over the last two decades to identify all decisions that have promoted or hindered environmental protection. 

Students working on the project analyze each decision and produce summaries that explain the significance of the decision and how each Supreme Court justice voted. The information is then provided to the Michigan League of Conservation Voters, which produces a non-partisan online report about the role of the Court and the voting records of individual justices that is broadly available to the public on a website that is heavily marketed, easily discovered, and seamlessly navigated. 

The project is a model for efforts to assess how elected state Supreme Courts are influencing conservation efforts throughout the United States.

Learn More About Green Gavels

Public Utility Regulation Initiative ( PURI )

In the short term, PURI ’s goal is to assist the Citizens Utility Board of Michigan ( CUB of MI ) and attorneys representing it at the Michigan Public Service Commission with legal research and other behind-the-scenes tasks that will enable them to make a stronger showing in rate cases, which directly determine how much Michiganders pay for utilities.

Examples of this research include cross-state energy policy comparisons, analyses of whether the utility companies’ revenue requirements are “reasonable,” and examinations of the energy burden Michiganders currently face.

Learn More About PURI

Andrew Buchsbaum

Nicolas Cornell

Kristina B. Daugirdas

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Jennifer A. Haverkamp

Alexandra Klass

Nina A. Mendelson

Emily A. Prifogle

Gabriel V. Rauterberg

Rachel Rothschild

David M. Uhlmann

Environmental and Energy Law Conference Speakers Discuss Role of Regulation in Transition to Clean Energy

Michigan Law Announces Academic Events for Fall 2024

Students in Problem Solving Initiative Course Publish “A Roadmap to Clean and Equitable Power in Michigan”

Five Michigan Law Students Receive Dow Sustainability Fellowships

Top Administrator Discusses Proposed Reforms to Federal Regulation Process

5Qs: Klass on How to Make Energy More Reliable and Sustainable

Also of interest.

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LLM Programme

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Research and Publications

• Forthcoming publications
• Energy Transition and the law
• Energy Law Review
• Yamani Global Energy Studies Library

• Clifford Chance Annual Lecture
• Energy Forum
• Friday Guest Lecture
• Freshfield Case Study
• BP Roundtable
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Opportunities for Students

• The Lord Browne Essay Prize
• Internships
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Sustainability, Environment and Energy Policy

Humans remain part of the natural world. Like all other species, we rely upon the resources of the planet to thrive, and we return our wastes to the same environment. The impact of human activity on local areas has always been obvious—uncoordinated exploitation of resources and discharge of waste progressively reduces human well being. Growing population and economic activity increase the potential gains from understanding and optimizing our relationship with the rest of the natural world.

The concentration in Sustainability, Environment, and Energy Policy provides Public Policy students with an opportunity to devote a year to intense study of what is known scientifically about the impact of human economic activity on the earth’s resources, and of alternative means to enhance human well-being through public measures designed to optimize resource use.

Perhaps the most powerful set of environmental policy tools are those that control the use of energy resources. The state of scientific and technological knowledge at any time in history, together with known energy resources, defines feasible energy choices. Uncoordinated individual decisions to exploit these choices can lead to patterns of energy use that are socially inefficient.

An example is the tendency of individual drivers to ignore their own contribution to air pollution when making a decision to drive, walk or bicycle. It is the task of public policy to prevent such outcomes by inducing decision-makers to take into account all the effects of particular energy choices. This is also true of other natural resources, such as land and water. Ultimately, systems that adjust individual and organizational incentives must be devised in order to bring incentives in line with the public interest as determined by policy makers. Effective implementation of energy and other environmental policy goals may require changes in law, tax policy, the provision of public services such as highways and mass transit, international treaties, and other policy tools.

Students completing this concentration have employment opportunities with local, state, federal, and international organizations and regulatory agencies and with the firms dealing with environmental, energy, and other natural resource issues, and with private firms interacting with such agencies and organizations, including consultancies.

Note that the courses below are not an exhaustive list; students may select other courses for their concentration with the approval of their faculty advisor. 

Affiliated Faculty

Mark Granovetter

Erica Plambeck

James Sweeney

Barton Thompson

Michael Wara

John Weyant

Frank Wolak

Gateway courses, elective courses.