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Cutting-Edge Environmental Courses

August 22, 2022

The Law School Courtyard
The Law School Courtyard
Penn Carey Law students are learning how they can use their skills to advocate for a healthier, greener world.

At the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, students work closely alongside faculty to garner a comprehensive understanding of the laws and regulations that govern environmental issues locally, nationally, and across the globe.

As the urgent need for environmental action continues to heighten, Penn Carey Law is working to expand environmental offerings with dynamic courses, renowned experts, and a variety of opportunities for networking and experiential learning.

The following courses, offered in the fall of 2022, will engage cutting-edge legal topics:

  • Shelley Welton, Presidential Distinguished Professor of Law and Energy Policy at the Law School and Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, will teach “Climate Change,” a course focusing on the local, state, national, and international mechanisms available to address imminent challenges related to climate change, as well as the political paradigms under which different potential courses of actions exist.

  • UN Climate Negotiation & the Impact of Subnational Actors, a Global Research Seminar taught by William Burke-White, Professor of Law, and Mauricio Rodas, will give students the unique opportunity to participate directly in the annual Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Specifically, students will research the ways in which sub-national actors, such as cities, states in federal systems, corporations, and non-profits may contribute meaningfully to climate mitigation goals set forth under the UNFCCC.

  • Energy Law and Climate Change,” taught by Ken Kulak, Adjunct Professor of Law and Advisory Board member at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, and Edward H. Comer, Lecturer in Law, is a forward-looking course that encourages students to think prospectively about how laws and regulations governing energy utilities intersect with initiatives to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

  • Damilola Olawuyi, Visiting International Professor, will teach “Energy Justice and Sustainable Development.” In this Bok course, students will tackle complicated issues in sustainable development and engage in discussion and reading material pertaining to how major projects in the energy sector contribute both to important human rights achievements and pressing human rights challenges.

  • Adam Cutler will instruct “Environmental Law in Practice,” a course designed specifically for students concurrently pursuing environmental externships. During the weekly seminar meetings, students will engage in study and discussion meant to complement their experiential work and professional development as environmental lawyers. Students will use this space to contextualize the myriad ways in which environmental law practice intersects with other legal fields and concerns.

  • In “Land Use Law in Practice” with Adjunct Professor of Law Thomas Witt, students will explore theoretical and practical elements of land use and development law, including but not limited to conversations about environmental justice implications involved in regulatory decisions.

Additional courses are being finalized for the spring of 2023, including “ESG: Current Developments in Public Corporation Environmental, Social, and Governance Initiatives” taught by Presidential Professor Lisa Fairfax, “Just Transition Law and Lawyering,” taught by Professor Amy Laura Cahn L’09; and “Climate Change and the Energy Evolution,” co-taught by Lecturers in Law Maggie Peloso and Kaam Sahley.

Explore Penn Carey Law’s full range of pathbreaking academic course offerings.