UCLA Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment

07/10/2026

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week in the major climate case Suncor v. Boulder and there is much to unpack about the arguments and how the justices received them. Our Alejandro Camacho has a play-by-play.

Oral arguments in the climate case before the Supreme Court gave hints to possible outcomes. But one argument went largely unmade.

07/10/2026

“Climate summits should be informed by data. That's why we just published a Spotlight on Top Methane Sources in Turkey’s Waste Sector.
🛰️ Landfills and dumpsites are among the largest sources of emissions driving global warming. The upcoming UN climate conference to be held in the Republic of Türkiye provides a critical opportunity to address these global emissions. The agenda for COP31 names “Zero Waste and Methane Reduction” as the first of 10 priorities for the summit. Here are 10 of the biggest opportunities for mitigation.”

Solid waste disposal sites are among the largest sources of methane emissions driving global warming. The upcoming United Nations climate conference (COP31) to be held in the Republic of Türkiye provides a critical opportunity to address these global emissions.

30/09/2026

This month was jam-packed from New York Climate Week to our student-faculty events. Read much more in our September newsletter!
🟢Our students filed a brief with the Constitutional Court of Ecuador.
🟢A new report from UCLA’s STOP Methane Project made the news.
🟢 Faculty Director Ted Parson wrote about our former fellow Holly Jean Buck being awarded a 2026 MacArthur Fellowship.
🟢 Prof. Alejandro Camacho and Cara Horowitz offer analysis of the blockbuster climate lawsuit Suncor v. Boulder
🟢 Faculty Director Ann Carlson is quoted on Clean Air waiver fights and new fuel economy standards
🟢 Upcoming events!
Read more at the link in the comments

22/09/2026

For many years now, a group of girls in the Ecuadorian Amazon have fought to stop harmful gas flaring in Ecuador. Two law clinics from UCLA just filed a brief in their case, known as the Mecheros case. Students in the Human Rights Litigation Clinic and the Frank G. Wells Environmental Law (led by our Cara Horowitz) traveled to Ecuador in spring to research the case. The clinics just filed an amicus brief with the Constitutional Court of Ecuador on behalf of international legal scholars including our own Kate Mackintosh of UCLA Law.

Read more about this important case from some of the law students.

Two UCLA Law clinics represent experts in a long-running case that seeks to stop harmful gas flaring in Ecuador.

04/09/2026

New developments in California's waiver whiplash: The Trump administration has spent nearly two years battling California’s EV ambitions and the state's long-standing power to enforce stricter-than-federal vehicle emissions standard. But this week, a federal judge blocked the EPA from sending California's waivers to Congress to be revoked.

Our Ann Carlson explains what makes this court opinion so remarkable in a new post at Legal Planet. "Judge Howell’s opinion supporting her grant of a preliminary injunction is an interesting mix of complex, technical administrative law analysis and a fiery rebuke of EPA’s actions and arguments."

Carlson is also quoted by POLITICO about the detriment done to the auto industry: “This back-and-forth whiplash in vehicle emissions policy is not good governance,” Carlson said. “We need a steady signal about the direction the auto industry is supposed to go, and we’ve obviously had anything but that.”

27/08/2026

The UCLA Emmett Institute is launching a new speaker series! We're thrilled to share that our new environmental law colloquium will bring some of the nation’s most renowned environmental law scholars to UCLA to present their works-in-progress and engage with our intellectual community. This colloquium will also integrate a course component taught by Prof. Alejandro Camacho in which students learn to evaluate and engage with environmental legal scholarship.

Faculty, staff, and students from law and other graduate programs will comment on cutting-edge scholarship on various topics including environmental justice, climate risk, and natural resources law. The series features 11 guest speakers:

9/3: Natalie Jacewicz, University of San Diego School of Law
9/17 Al Lin, University of California – Davis, School of Law
9/29 Erin Ryan, University of Southern California – Gould School of Law
10/1 Aisha Saad, Georgetown University Law Center
10/8 Heather Tanana, University of Denver – Sturm College of Law
10/15 Robert Glicksman, George Washington University Law School
10/22 Rachel Rothschild, University of Michigan Law School
10/29 Sheila Foster, Columbia Climate School
11/12 Leehi Yona, Cornell Law School
11/19 David Dana, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
11/24 Melissa Powers, Lewis & Clark Law School
The Emmett Institute is really looking forward to this new colloquium further adding to the intellectual life at UCLA Law See more at the link in the comments.

10/08/2026

Engaged citizens can work together to solve difficult environmental problems, and we know because we've done it before. Our Prof. Ann Carlson spoke with the public radio show "Living on Earth" about how Los Angeles cleaned up its air and her book "Smog and Sunshine." 🎙️ ⬇️ https://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=26-P13-00030&segmentID=3

03/08/2026

Read this fabulous new Q&A with our Faculty Co-Director Alex Wang in The Wire, the digital news magazine dedicated to understanding and explaining China's rise. Is net zero by 2060 fast enough? Short answer is no.

"Because of inadequate action by China, the world’s largest emitter, and the dramatic backtracking of the U.S., the second largest, we are likely to see the impacts of climate change arriving with greater regularity and severity."

https://www.thewirechina.com/2026/08/02/alex-wang-on-what-china-gets-right-and-wrong-on-the-environment/

02/07/2026

Our Ann Carlson joined Spectrum News to talk about her book “Smog and Sunshine” and how LA cleaned up its air. Watch the interview at the link below.

And if you know Prof. Carlson, you know she wouldn’t miss a chance to stop by the Dodgers studio. ⚾️

https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/la/inside-the-issues/2026/07/02/how-los-angeles-cleaned-up-its-notorious-smog-

29/04/2026

Our Earth Month newsletter is here! 🌎
📖 Alejandro Camacho has released his new book!
☀️ Ann Carlson's "Smog and Sunshine" had a special book talk
🎙️ "Can Abundance Be Sustainable" - our symposium recap
⚡ Our Elias van Emmerick released a policy report on the energy transition
✍ Read about our faculty's recent writing and media appearances

Read all about it here!⬇️

On Earth Day we celebrated the release of Professor Alejandro Camacho’s new book “Lessons for a Warming Planet.” The book is a vital history of environmental law that says as much about the future as it does about the past. “I’ve been trying to look through the history of the United State....