Michael Vandenbergh

Professor of Law Vanderbilt University

  • Nashville TN

Expert in environmental law and how private industry can help slow climate change.

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Biography

Michael Vandenbergh is a Professor of Law at Vanderbilt University. His research explores the relationship between formal legal regulation and informal social regulation of individual and corporate environmental behavior. His work with Vanderbilt’s Climate Change Research Network involves interdisciplinary teams that focus on the reduction of carbon emissions from the individual and household sector. His corporate work explores the influence of social norms on firms’ behavior and the ways in which private contracting can enhance or undermine public governance. Before joining Vanderbilt’s law faculty, Vandenbergh was one of the nation’s foremost environmental lawyers. He served as Chief of Staff of the Environmental Protection Agency from 1993-95.

Areas of Expertise

Environmental Law
Corporate Environmental Behavior
Carbon Emissions
Organizational Culture
Climate Change Research
Energy Law and Policy

Accomplishments

Hall - Hartman Outstanding Professor Award

2005-01-01

Awarded 2005, 2010, 2011 and 2013.

Education

University of Virginia School of Law

J.D.

Law

1987

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

B.A.

Zoology

1983

Affiliations

  • Vanderbilt University : David Allen Distinguished Chair of Law
  • Vanderbilt University : Director, Environmental Law Program
  • Vanderbilt University : Director, Climate Change Research Network
  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences : Member, Alternative Energy Future Committee
  • Middle Tennessee Clean Air Partnership : Member, Steering Committee

Selected Media Appearances

Trump's EPA rewrote the rules on air, water energy. Now voters face a choice on climate change issues

USA Today  online

2020-10-29

Coupled with market forces and more consumer support for renewable energy, the private sector is decarbonizing on its own. But that is "not a substitute for government action,” said Michael Vandenbergh, a Vanderbilt University professor who is director of the Climate Change Research Network.

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Companies Are Making Major Climate Pledges. Here’s What They Really Mean.

HuffPost  online

2020-10-07

“The public sector has failed to take as much leadership as many, many people think we need to take,” said Michael Vandenbergh, co-director of the Climate Change Research Network at Vanderbilt Law School. “I think these efforts, overall, are essential.”

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Government action isn’t enough for climate change. The private sector can cut billions of tons of carbon

The Conversation  online

2017-06-21

With President Trump’s announcement to pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement, many other countries around the world – and cities and states within the U.S. – are stepping up their commitments to address climate change.

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Selected Event Appearances

Can your company stop global warming?

TEDxNashville  Nashville, Tennessee

2014-05-01

Buying Time: The Private Governance Response to Climate Change

Ostrom Workshop Colloquium  Indiana University, Indiana

2014-04-01

New Governance for New Challenges

Fate of the Earth Inaugural Symposium: Human Well-Being and the Environment  Michigan State University, Michigan

2014-04-01

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Selected Articles

Household actions can provide a behavioral wedge to rapidly reduce US carbon emissions

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

2009-01-01

Most climate change policy attention has been addressed to long-term options,
such as inducing new, low-carbon energy technologies and creating cap-and-trade regimes
for emissions. We use a behavioral approach to examine the reasonably achievable ...

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A comparison of carbon calculators

Environmental Impact Assessment Review

2008-01-01

International attention to carbon dioxide emissions is turning to an individual's contribution,
or “carbon footprint.” Calculators that estimate an individual's CO2 emissions have become
more prevalent on the internet. Even with similar inputs, however, these calculators can ...

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Carbon-Neutral Individual, The

New York University Law Review

2007-01-01

Reducing the risk of catastrophic climate change will require leveling off green- house gas emissions
over the short term and reducing emissions by an estimated 60-80% over the long term. To achieve
these reductions, we argue that policy- makers and regulators should focus not only on ...

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