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I think it helps to give a little bit of
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a sense of my own personal background to
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explain where my research comes from
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before coming to Wharton I spent 10
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years as a um Federal prosecutor in New
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York I was an assistant United States
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Attorney for the southern district of
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New York and in that capacity I um
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participated in kind of traditional law
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enforcement particularly with respect to
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environmental laws and so the
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traditional model of environmental law
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is that Congress passes a law and and
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the government enforces it against
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business firms which are the polluters
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right so that's kind of the traditional
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understanding of what environmental law
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is in my research what I try to do is I
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kind of flip that around so I ask what
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if the government is not the regulator
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but instead private firms are regulators
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and what if the government is not the
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regulator but instead is a polluter so
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my research kind of falls into two
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categories right now the first is
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exploring the role of the government as
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a polluter and the second is exploring
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the role of business firms as sources of
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environmental
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standards on the side of my research
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that focuses on the government as
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polluter I think one of the key
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takeaways is that the military does not
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always stand opposed to the idea of
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Environmental Protection there are kind
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of two narratives about the role that
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the military plays in society with
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respect to the environment one is that
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the environment and National Security
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stand opposed to one another and that
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the environment needs to bend if
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National Security is issue but what I
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suggest in my research in a paper called
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the military environmental complex is
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that right now because the military is
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the nation's largest consumer of fossil
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fuels and because many thousands of
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soldiers have died guarding fuel convoys
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in recent conflicts in Iraq and
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Afghanistan um the military has um this
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tremendous internal incentive to reduce
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its fossil fuel use and replace it with
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Renewables and so is investing heavily
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in that right now and so that sort of
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turns the traditional narrative on its
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head and suggest that the military
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actually has a very important role to
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play in supporting the development of
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clean and renewable energy
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technology so on the other side of my
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research which focuses on the idea that
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business firms can be a source of
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environmental standards um I think that
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fact in and of itself is surprising um
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when you study environmental law in a
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traditional law school environment the
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focus tends to be on the laws that
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congress passes um and on business firms
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as polluters and the targets of
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government regulation but what you see
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in this environment here in a business
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school um and I think that is of great
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interest is that business firms can
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themselves be sources of environmental
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standards so for example if Walmart
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imposes requirements on its supply chain
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that suppliers need to disclose their
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greenhouse gas emissions in order to
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have contracts with Walmart that in and
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of itself is an environmental standard
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um similarly nonprofit organizations
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like the Marine Stewardship Council or
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the forest Stewardship Council create
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certification programs whereby you can
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certify fishery or fish catching um or
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Forest um Timber practices as
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sustainable and in order to Warrant the
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label the certification the business
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needs to comply with certain rules which
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are then audited by Third parties those
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are themselves Environmental governance
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though maybe not in the most traditional
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sense and so I think it can be eye
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openening for people to understand that
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certain forms of corporate enironmental
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social responsibility are actually um
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that they have broader implications than
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just for the firms
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themselves so I think the most
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surprising conclusion has come in
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connection with some empirical work that
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I've been doing uh with colleagues here
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at Wharton to test a hypothesis that I
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put out in an article called valuing
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National Security security so in the
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article called the military
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environmental complex I suggest that the
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military um is playing an important role
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in stimulating innovation in
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technological advancement in the Clean
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Energy Arena in valuing National
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Security I suggest that the military um
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by focusing on renewable energy
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development and reducing its fossil fuel
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use actually has the potential to um
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affect policy debate and individual
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behavior in the kind of climate change
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Arena um the the mere fact that the
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Department of Defense is using solar
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panels has the potential to drive
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individuals to want to use solar panels
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at least that's the hypothesis so I've
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been working with colleagues here at
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Wharton to test this hypothesis
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empirically and just a few days ago we
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received some preliminary test results
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um we suspected that um the difference
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would be among conservative um survey
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participants people who generally don't
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tend to favor Environmental Protection
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but do tend to Value the role of the
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military in society what we found was um
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actually that people who self-identify
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as liberal were more likely to want to
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purchase renewable energy um from their
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utility when they learned that the
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Department of Defense was actively using
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renewable energy technology the sample
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size wasn't large enough for
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conservative so we don't know yet um
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what the result is on that front but we
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plan to follow up with additional
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testing
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there are really three practical
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implications of my research at this
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point the first is that I think we need
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to be thinking much more broadly
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Scholars and Regulators need to be
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thinking much more broadly about what
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constitutes environmental law and
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environmental governance it is not
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simply laws passed by Congress or
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regulations passed by EPA it includes
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private environmental governance that is
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actions by firms and non-governmental
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organizations to set environmental
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standards so I think that's really the
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first implication
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the second implication relates to the
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work that I'm doing on valuing National
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Security that is I think it's extremely
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important to recognize that if we want
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to change individual behaviors in the
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climate change context that we need to
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think broadly about how to frame climate
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change we shouldn't Simply Be framing
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climate change as an environmental issue
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it needs to be framed as a national
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security issue as well the third
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implication is very specific um one of
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the reasons why the military has been
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able to um leverage its purchasing power
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to stimulate the development of
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renewable energy Technologies is because
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Congress gave it a particular statutory
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Authority that statutory Authority
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allows it to enter into what are called
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Power purchase agreements whereby the
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military purchases power from an an
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energy generating entity and so the
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military is able to enter into Power
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purchase agreements for 30 years which
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is necessary in order to um allow the
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entity that that builds the generating
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facility on Military land to recoup its
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initial investment you can't do
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Renewables on a very short time frame
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because The Upfront costs tend to be
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high other government agencies are
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limited to 10-year power purchasing
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agreements so I make a very specific
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recommendation in the military
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environmental complex that Congress
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should consider lengthening the term um
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for other government agencies as well
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such that they could enter into these
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long-term 30-year power purchase
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agreements because I think that that
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would allow them to stimulate the
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development of renewable energy
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technology as
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well so obviously my research focuses on
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environmental governance um but the
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point is broader and I think it's
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important to recognize that the idea
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that private governance is not limited
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just to the environmental Arena private
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governance exists in um firms where
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they're setting labor standards for
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their suppliers in in their supply
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chains um there are also Private
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Financial standards recently two
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candidates for higher office entered
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into a contract whereby they agreed to
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um certain campaign Finance rules so
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rather than relying on Congress to set
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campaign Finance rules two candidates
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privately agreed that they would not
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accept certain money or not spend more
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than C C amounts so the the phenomenon
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of private governance actually extends
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quite broadly and I think it's important
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to recognize
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that the news is full of stories
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recently about the impact of climate
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change the intergovernmental panel on
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climate change has been releasing
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various working group reports which
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demonstrate that climate change is
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happening that climate change is
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anthropogenic and that the consequences
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of climate change may be dire for
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society um in addition a group of 16
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retired generals um from the military
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recently last month I believe put out a
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report um saying that climate change is
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is posing a national security threat and
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that climate change acts as a threat
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multiplier that
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destabilizes um countries that has the
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potential to increase conflict to create
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climate refugees and other situations in
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which the US military is going to be
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called upon to
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um address these conflicts so I think
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the idea that climate change is a
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national security issue is certainly in
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the
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news what sets my research apart in part
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comes from where I'm situated and what
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my background is um most lawyers who
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decide to become professors go on to
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teach in law schools um but I chose to
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come to a business school obviously my
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my research is very um
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uh connected to the idea of the role
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that business plays in society so I
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think what sets my research apart in
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part is the fact that I'm kind of
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bridging these two worlds and trying to
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have a conversation not only with other
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legal Scholars but also with business
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and management
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Scholars I'm following up on this
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research in a number of different ways
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with respect to valuing National
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Security I am currently working with
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colleagues here at Wharton to
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empirically test the hypothesis so we
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are going to be following up with
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additional studies in which we frame
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climate change as a national security
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issue or demonstrate military leadership
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with respect to renewable energy use to
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see what impact that has on individual
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um behaviors and beliefs and attitudes
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toward climate policy and reducing
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fossil fuel use um I'm also working with
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um some colleagues here at Wharton on an
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empirical study to understand how
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business firms talk about climate change
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in their Securities and Exchange
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Commission disclosures do they talk
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about it as an issue of strategic
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Advantage do they talk about it as an
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issue of Environmental Protection and
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morality do they talk about it as an
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issue of National Security um and in
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particular for major military
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contractors how do they talk about
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climate change and to the extent that
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the ways in which they've talked about
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climate change um over time uh have
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changed what can account for the change
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so those are some empirical projects
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that I'm work working on with colleagues
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here at Wharton I'm also continuing to
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do my own uh work on uh more kind of
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normative theories of private
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environmental governance to try to argue
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about how it fits into larger views of
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what constitutes environmental
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law
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