Areas of Expertise:

Wil Burns, PhD, is a Scholar in Residence at the School of International Service, at American University and a Senior Fellow in the International Law Research Program at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI). From 2012 to 2014 he founded and directed the MS in Energy Policy and Climate Program at Johns Hopkins University, where he taught courses in domestic and international climate change law and domestic energy law. He holds a PhD in International Environmental Law from the University of Wales-Cardiff School of Law. He also serves as the Co-Chair of the International Environmental Law Committee of the American Branch of the International Law Association and is the President of the Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences. He is also the former Co-Chair of the International Environmental Law interest group of the American Society of International Law. He has taught at Williams College, Colby College, Santa Clara University School of Law and the Monterey Institute of International Studies of Middlebury College. Prior to becoming an academic, he served as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs for the State of Wisconsin and worked in the non-governmental sector for twenty years, including as Executive Director of the Pacific Center for International Studies, a think-tank that focused on implementation of international wildlife treaty regimes, including the Convention on Biological Diversity and International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. He has published over 75 articles in law, science, and policy journals and has co-edited four books. His current areas of research focus are: climate geoengineering; international climate change litigation; adaptation strategies to address climate change, with a focus on the potential role of microinsurance; the effectiveness of international treaty regimes to conserve cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises); and how to effectively operationalize the precautionary principle in international environmental treaty regimes. His edited volume, Climate Change Geoengineering: Philosophical Perspectives, Legal Issues, and Governance Frameworks, is available from Cambridge University Press.

Recent Posts by Wil Burns

• The Key to Saving the Nuclear Power Sector
• Is Bioenergy with CCS Critical to the Paris Agreement?
• Loss and Damage under the UNFCCC
• The European Union’s Emissions Trading System: Climate Model, Now Climate Muddle?

Recent Comments by Wil Burns

• "Thank you, Secretary Moniz. Your framework is salutary, because it provides a roadmap for operationalizing some of the broader principles of various i"
  A Framework for The Green Real Deal
• "I am in concurrence with Dan and others that current market forces cannot support the large additional cost attendant to wedding CCS with current ener"
  USE IT Act: Reducing Emissions Through Carbon Use Innovation, Not Regulation
• "Thanks, Dan; that gives me some hope. Keep up the good fight!"
  Opportunities for Carbon Capture in California
• "I have to say that I'm not nearly as sanguine as you are in terms of those cost projections, Dan. To some degree, there's a chicken and egg sort of di"
  Opportunities for Carbon Capture in California
• "When you say that CCS on point sources is "cost-effective," what do you mean? It's my understanding that CCS adds a lot of cost to power production (i"
  Opportunities for Carbon Capture in California
• "I think that advocacy of bioenergy and carbon capture and sequestration is a dangerous proposition. Large-scale deployment of BECCS (10 Gt.CO2/yr., fo"
  Opportunities for Carbon Capture in California
• "A couple of responses here, Bill: 1. In point of fact, President Obama was not legally required to submit Paris to the Senate because it does not i"
  Ramifications of Paris Exit
• "I think an equally interesting issue beyond the ramifications of the US withdrawing from Paris, is whether the US could opt to remain in Paris and wea"
  Ramifications of Paris Exit
• "Thanks for your response, Bruce. However, it's not entirely clear that double cropping will substantially incentivize biomass production for several r"
  Is Bioenergy with CCS Critical to the Paris Agreement?
• "Bruce. Well; that's not how virtually any hydrologist I've talked to views this. It will be small comfort to those ecosystems and peoples in regions "
  Is Bioenergy with CCS Critical to the Paris Agreement?