Climate Change at Vanderbilt Law
Our Impact
Climate change is an existential, polarizing, and pressing challenge for society-at-large. Our faculty, which consistently rank among the top in the nation in environmental law, rise to this challenge with interdisciplinary and policy-relevant scholarship that addresses the legal, economic, and societal implications of climate change. Through programs, organizations, and uniquely designed publications, our students engage with the latest thought leadership on the subject, graduating with the knowledge and skills needed to make an impact in the private and public sectors.
Faculty Publications
In their recently published book, Beyond Politics: The Private Governance Response to Climate Change, Michael Vandenbergh and co-author Jonathan M. Gilligan, associate professor of earth and environmental science, make the case for how the private sector and businesses can fill the environmental gap. Vandenbergh and Gilligan point to numerous ways private-sector companies can benefit by taking environmentally friendly actions.
In the face of government gridlock, the new field of private environmental governance has emerged. Private Environmental Governance (Concepts and Insights), co-authored by Vanderbilt Law Professor Michael P. Vandenbergh, Sarah E. Light of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and James Salzman of UC Santa Barbara and UCLA Law School, seeks to help students and practitioners learn about PEG's themes, features, and people.
Student Scholarship
Scholarship Spotlight
Microgrids: Legal Opportunities and Barriers in Tennessee
Authored by Caroline Cox and Victoria Schmit, "Microgrids: Legal Opportunities and Barriers in Tennessee" lays out the challenges to microgrids presented by the current legal and regulatory landscape and offers policy recommendations to encourage microgrid adoption.
Scholarship Spotlight
The TVA Effect: Clean Energy Goals in the TVA Fence Line
Authored by Caroline Cox and 2023 EELU Fellow Madeline Flynn ’23, "The TVA Effect: Clean Energy Goals in the TVA Fence Line" explains that, in the case of TVA, the government-owned company may be making it harder for local public power companies to transition to clean energy.
Climate at Vanderbilt
The Climate at Vanderbilt podcast reports on faculty, students, research, and programs at Vanderbilt University focused on climate change. Faculty at Vanderbilt conducting research on climate change come from a broad array of disciplines, including engineering, public health and medicine, earth sciences, religious studies, law, biological sciences, history, business, and anthropology. Vanderbilt also offers an innovative undergraduate major in climate studies. Listen to this podcast to learn more about how Vanderbilt is working on the challenges of climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Interdisciplinary Center
Climate Change Research Network
The Climate Change Research Network includes a team conducting theoretical and applied research on one of the most important and most widely overlooked sources of greenhouse gases: individual and household behavior.