Akinola Afolarin, a Fellow of the Institute for Energy Democracy at the Pace Energy and Climate Center has led a group of sustainability experts to launch the Center for Global Sustainability Law (CGSL), an interdisciplinary research and policy Center that focuses on the intersection between law and sustainability, by expounding on the critical role of law and emerging regulations in advancing a sustainable future that leaves no one behind. According to Akinola, the establishment of the Center is imperative to employ the instrumentality of law to advance global sustainability. Speaking further, he states that “our world faces a wide range of challenges that cut across environmental, social and economic issues. In addressing these challenges, we have over the years emphasized the finance and the scientific sides of sustainability, while less attention is paid to the legal framework needed to propel the efforts being made to address the problems.”
When asked about how the current political climate might be impacting climate and sustainability efforts, Akinola opined that “notwithstanding the current political climate in some countries which might have resulted in some organizations scaling back on their climate-related targets, we must constantly be reminded that the goal of a sustainable world transcends climate change. Even more critical is the fact that the challenges that our world is daily confronted with, cannot be wished away on the altar of the political disposition of any government. Governments are transient but sustainability problems could last for generations, and even worsen. Therefore, as these challenges increase, so must our collective response be intensified. This is why CGSL is here.”
You can learn more about CGSL at: www.cgsul.org
Email: info@cgsul.org
LinkedIn: Center for Global Sustainability Law
We wish Akinola and his team success as they embark on this critical and impact-driven journey.
The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University is pleased to announce that Michael Hamersky was appointed to serve as the Executive Director of the Pace Energy and Climate Center. In addition to leading the Center, he will teach Natural Resources Law at the Law School. Over nearly four decades, the Pace Energy and Climate Center has established itself as a national leader working at the intersection of energy and the environment.
Prior to this role, Michael served as the Climate Change and Land Use Policy Fellow at Pace Haub Law where he developed policy solutions related to climate change mitigation, clean energy deployment, sustainable development, and renewable energy incentive structures. Michael has also produced scholarship related to conservation in Indigenous communities and ocean governance.
“During his time at the Law School, first as an LLM student, and more recently as a Climate Change and Land Use Policy Fellow, Michael has established himself as a forward-thinking leader in the field of environmental law,” said Dean Horace E. Anderson Jr. “Our Pace Energy and Climate Center has established itself as a trusted Center and thought-leader, frequently engaging government decision makers and key stakeholders with objective research and analysis in law and policy. I am confident that with Michael serving as the Executive Director of the Center, our Center will continue to serve as a model and leader in the field.”
“I am beyond excited to join Pace Haub Law in this new capacity,” stated Michael. “I look forward to using this new platform to highlight the incredible work of the number one environmental law program in the nation’s talented students and to prioritize the Pace Energy and Climate Center’s work on the clean energy transition and the impact such transition will have on vulnerable communities.” Prior to joining the Haub Law community, Michael practiced corporate restructuring litigation for over fifteen years in New York City, and was an adjunct professor at the Fordham University School of Law. He received his JD from Fordham University School of Law and his LLM in Environmental Studies from the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, with a focus on Energy Law and Climate Change.
Over time, the Pace Energy and Climate Center has grown from its initial focus on energy regulatory law and policies, expanding its focus to encompass transportation and fuels as well as climate change mitigation and resilience. Through the analysis and advancement of critical policies engineered to improve energy efficiency, accelerate renewable energy and distributed generation, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and make our communities more resilient in the face of climate change impacts, the Center has continually reconfirmed its position at the leading edge of finding solutions to our energy and climate challenges on the local, state, regional, national, and international levels.
The Pace Energy and Climate Center was founded in 1987 as the Pace Energy Project by Dean Emeritus Richard L. Ottinger upon his retirement from the US Congress. Dean Ottinger recognized early on the significant environmental impacts of our supply and use of energy in the United States. From the very beginning, under Dean Ottinger’s leadership, the Center provided cutting-edge research and analysis of energy production alternatives’ social and environmental costs and benefits. Through careful and consistent engagement across communities, the Center was among the first organizations to highlight the benefits of energy efficiency and renewable energy as alternatives to conventional electricity generation.
In addition to being a force for legal and policy change, the Center also trains the next generation of smart energy leaders. Students from the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University are actively involved in the Center’s projects. Haub Law student interns contribute directly to the creation and development of work products for both domestic and international projects, building important professional skills in policy analysis, legal writing, administrative practice related to electric utility law, and other areas related to energy law.
Students who participate in the Center’s work have gone on to careers at institutions central to the energy discussion, such as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Energy Foundation, the California Independent System Operator, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the New York Power Authority, the New York Public Service Commission, and the New York Independent System Operator, to name a handful.
Prior to Michael’s appointment, Elisabeth Haub School of Law Adjunct Professor Joseph Siegel served as interim Executive Director of the Pace Energy and Climate Center. Previously, Joe worked for 38 years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2, office in New York where he was a Senior Attorney, co-chaired the Region 2 Climate Change Workgroup and the Office of Regional Counsel’s Climate Change Workgroup, managed the Region 2 Environmental Collaboration and Conflict Resolution program, and served on the Steering Committee of the Mid-Atlantic Federal Climate Partners.
On June 2, 2025, the Pace Energy and Climate Center (PECC) filed a submission with the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in response to a call for inputs on the potential impacts of greenhouse gas reduction measures. The PECC’s submission flows from a program under the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement that examines the impacts of greenhouse gas mitigation measures, recognizing that sometimes such measures produce negative effects.
To better understand the impacts of greenhouse gas reduction actions, the parties to the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement (the Parties) created in 2018 the Katowice Committee of Experts on the Impacts of the Implementation of Response Measures (KCI), to assist them in sharing information, experience, and best practices on the impacts. At COP28 in 2023, the Parties tasked the Secretariat (Decision 13/CP.28) to organize two-day global dialogues in 2024 and 2025 on the impact of greenhouse gas reduction measures, in conjunction with the KCI.
Non-party stakeholders, like the PECC, were invited to submit their views on possible topics for the global dialogues. The PECC’s submission, which was prepared by Joseph Siegel, PECC’s outgoing Interim Executive Director, with the assistance of Brooke Wood, PECC Legal Research Assistant, recommends that the Secretariat include, as a topic in the 2025 global dialogue, the potential for conflict to emerge from greenhouse gas reduction actions.
The submission provides examples of conflict and tensions stemming from greenhouse gas reduction actions, such as community opposition to solar installations, lawsuits against wind projects, and conflicts from mining minerals that are needed for decarbonization technologies. The PECC’s submission also discusses the opportunities for broader use of conflict resolution, conflict prevention, and conflict management strategies, which can be effective in addressing greenhouse gas mitigation-related conflicts and tensions. It then suggests the benefit of using mediators and third-party impartial facilitators to design and implement processes for conflict resolution, prevention, and management. Finally, the PECC makes recommendations to the Secretariat and KCI on designing the two-day dialogue to maximize its effectiveness.
PECC’s submission can be found here.
