On September 19, 2022, EEMI Director Jonathan Deason served as the opening plenary speaker for the second day of the 2022 Natural Resources Symposium that was held in the GW Law School.
Other speakers included Dayna Bowen Matthew, Dean of the George Washington University Law School; Roger Martella, Vice President, Chief Sustainability Officer, GE; Jordan Diamond, President, Environmental Law Institute; John Cruden, former Assistant Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources; Sally Fisk, Chief Counsel - Environmental & Sustainability Law, Pfizer, Inc.; Nathaniel Keohane, President, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions; and Emily Sanford Fisher, General Counsel and Senior Vice President, Edison Electric Institute.
The theme for the 2022 Symposium was “Natural Resources at a Crossroads: How Recent Events Have Affected Natural Resources Law and Policy and Highlighted the Importance of Public/Private Collaborations to Advance Shared Objectives.”
The focus on the second day was on the impacts of global climate change in order to identify what is needed now and moving forward to ensure a reasonable, balanced, predictable and transparent practice arena for natural resources damage assessment and restoration the context of warming global temperatures. The Symposium provided a forum for presentation, discussion and exchange of ideas on that topic.
Discussions included shifts in policy and corporate priorities in terms of challenges, opportunities, and solutions, emphasizing the initiatives emanating from the private sector and the growing list of voluntary actions and public/private collaborations that are paving the way for new ways to approach complex of issues related to the protection of natural resources – water, land, biota – and the growing importance of biodiversity and sustainability.
Co-sponsors of the event included The Environmental Law Institute, George Washington University Law School, and The George Washington University Environmental & Energy Management Institute.
A full list of speakers and their biosketches can be seen at Speaker Backgrounds — Natural Resources Symposium.
The Symposium agenda can be seen at 2022 Agenda — Natural Resources Symposium.