Conference Nov. 9-10: Global Climate Change Policy Without the United States: Thinking the Unthinkable

Lawmakers, diplomats, and academics have traditionally discussed global climate change policy on the assumption that U.S. participation is necessary to achieve meaningful success – an understandable view given the substantial share of annual and historic greenhouse gas emissions that are attributable to the United States. Yet, for the better part of two decades, confusion and fracture in the U.S. position on climate change policy have complicated development of a robust international regime.

Can climate change be addressed without formal, cohesive participation by the United States, and if so, how? Leading experts from a variety of disciplines will gather Nov. 9-10 at Yale Law School to consider those and other questions at a conference entitled “Global Climate Change Policy Without the United States: Thinking the Unthinkable.” The conference is sponsored by the Oscar M. Ruebhausen Fund at Yale Law School, the Yale Climate & Energy Institute, and the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy.