Climate change is a multidimensional global pollution problem arising from the world’s social, economic and legal systems. Solutions to this problem necessarily affect the way society establishes and implements laws and society’s approach to social and environmental justice. In order to better understand current climate change issues, this project proposed to join faculty members and researchers at Columbia University and the University of Paris-I Panthéon-Sorbonne to collaborate to develop a comparative, transatlantic dialog on the legal aspects of climate change, with a focus on France, the European Union, and the United States. The project was designed as part of an ongoing collaborative effort between Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and the Sorbonne University’s Law School, with the intent to further deepen the connections between our academic communities. Previously, Alliance supported two Sabin Center visits to the Sorbonne in 2015, allowing Professor Michael Gerrard and Executive Director Michael Burger to deliver lectures and participate in seminars. Notably, Alliance also helped support three Sabin Center staff members’ involvement in Social Dynamics and Climate Change, a major three-day conference hosted at the Sorbonne in November 2015 as part of the preparations for the 21 st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Paris the following month. This project was an outgrowth of the connections forged during those previous meetings, and successfully expanded the nature and scope of our collaboration.
