The Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review (ELPAR) is a law class that produces a joint publication between Vanderbilt Law School and the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) — an internationally recognized, non-partisan research and education center based in Washington, D.C. working to strengthen environmental protection by improving law and governance worldwide.
Each year, Vanderbilt Law School students work with their course instructors, an expert advisory board and senior staff from ELI to identify some of the best environmental law and policy proposals in the legal academic literature. The result is a one issue, student-edited volume that includes condensed versions of these articles will be published in the August 2023 issue of the Environmental Law Reporter and will also be made available in August. The selected articles and commentaries are published in the August Issue of the Environmental Law Reporter (ELR) and presented at annual conferences in Washington, D.C. and in Nashville, TN. ELPAR students participate in the conferences which are typically attended by representatives from businesses, state and federal government agencies, think tanks, trade associations and non-profit organizations.
ELPAR is designed to bring ideas from the academy to policymakers and practitioners, as well as recognize and incentivize scholars to write articles that include creative and feasible law and policy proposals. At the same time, ELPAR seeks to provide a first-rate educational experience to law students interested in environmental law and policy.
The Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review (ELPAR) is published annually in the August issue of the Environmental Law Report (ELR) in collaboration with the Vanderbilt University Law School and the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) in Washington, DC. Each year, Vanderbilt Law students work with an expert advisory committee, senior staff from ELI, and Vanderbilt Law professors to identify the year's best academic articles that present legal and policy solutions to pressing environmental problems. This year's winners are (articles published in AY 2023):
The Top 20 articles selected for ELPAR 2024-2025 can be viewed on the ELI ELPAR webpage.
The Environmental Law & Policy Annual Review (ELPAR) hosted its annual Nashville Conference on February 17, 2025 at Vanderbilt Law School. This year’s discussion featured Sarah J. Fox, Associate Professor of Law at Marquette University Law School, whose article “Soil Governance and Private Property” was the focal point of our panel.
The Environmental Law & Policy Annual Review (ELPAR) hosted its annual Nashville Conference, which featured Sarah Fox, Associate Professor of Law at the Marquette University Law School. The conference centered on Professor Fox’s ELPAR-recognized article: “Soil Governance and Private Property,” which was previously published in the Utah Law Review and was selected as part of ELPAR’s 2024-2025 top 20 environmental law and policy articles.
To implement the massive scale of new infrastructure urgently required to achieve needed reductions in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, a new approach is called for that emphasizes decarbonization by prioritizing permitting speed and climate impact at least as much as conservation and equity. How can streamlining methods be leveraged more comprehensively and effectively to achieve these goals?
The 2024 ELPAR Local Conference in Nashville invited a panel of leading policymakers, practitioners, and professors to discuss Going Concerns and Environmental Concerns: Mitigating Climate Change Through Bankruptcy Reform by Alexander Gouzoules. The article was selected for an honorable mention in this year's ELPAR.
Roger Martella, GE's Chief Sustainability Officer, emphasized the importance of private-sector solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the 2023 Distinguished Lecture on Climate Change Governance.
Aligning the Global Trade and Climate Change Regimes
Each year, Vanderbilt Law School and the Environmental Law Institute identify innovative environmental law and policy proposals in the academic literature. Leading professors, policymakers, and practitioners were invited to discuss the proposals selected this year.