In theoretical accounts of environmental law, traditional environmental-law education, and much of the discourse of environmental-law implementation, negotiation is absent, except in a few celebrated and seemingly exceptional settings. When scholars and policy advocates do address the roles of negotiation, they tend to default to two competing conceptions. In one—the “command-and-control” view—environmental law is problematically centralized and rigid, and negotiation exists only in exceptional circumstances.

Choice architecture as defined by Professor Mormann in Climate Choice Architecture is helpful and important, but it is also easy to overestimate its impact. It is not everything. This Comment argues that choice architecture is framing a decision at the point of decisionmaking, presenting a list in a specific way, like the decoy effect, setting defaults. Sometimes, social norms and feedback is choice architecture if presented at the time of making a decision or if presented at the optimal choice opportunity.

Prof. Felix Mormann’s introduction in Climate Choice Architecture masterfully highlights the pivotal role of behavioral change in tackling the global climate crisis, and underscores the profound impact of choice architecture—subtle changes in decision environments—on influencing climate-conscious decisionmaking. Drawing from the seminal works of Nobel Laureate Richard Thaler and Prof. Cass Sunstein, Professor Mormann champions the strategic use of small “nudges” to guide individuals and organizations toward sustainable outcomes.

Prof. Felix Mormann’s Climate Choice Architecture comprehensively catalogs and classifies different types of nudge interventions that can be used to combat climate change. He argues that choice architecture can complement command-and-control mandates, market-based incentives, and other forms of regulation while also acknowledging its limitations.

Prof. Felix Mormann’s Climate Choice Architecture provides a comprehensive framework and a masterful summary of the state of knowledge on behavioral nudges as they are applied to environmental outcomes. It does a great job of summarizing the literature and also crosses over from energy into water as well. This Comment supports Professor Mormann's conclusion that nudges can be very powerful instruments for achieving climate goals.

Successful climate change mitigation and adaptation require behavioral change at an unprecedented scale. Fortunately, behavioral research has proven that minor tweaks to the choice environment can usher in a paradigm shift toward more climate-friendly decisionmaking. This Article makes the case for greater reliance on choice architectural nudges as a catalyst for more climate-friendly decisionmaking across a wide range of contexts.

The Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review (ELPAR) is published by the Environmental Law Institute’s (ELI’s) Environmental Law Reporter in partnership with Vanderbilt University Law School. This Comment highlights the results of the ELPAR article selection process and reports on the environmental legal scholarship for the 2022-2023 academic year, including the number of environmental law articles published in general-interest law reviews versus environment-focused law journals, and the topics covered in the articles.

Development impacts many aspects of the food system, including where food is grown, how far food must travel, where distributors and retailers are placed, and who has access to fresh and nutritious food. By viewing development and its associated impacts through a sustainability and life-cycle lens, we can rethink the role of development and how communities can grow while fostering a strong, inclusive, affordable, accessible, and healthy food system. This Article focuses on the way local governments regulate development and how that impacts the food system.

In China, the year 2023 witnessed the further evolution of environmental protection and development of legislation and rulemaking. This mainly included adoption of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Ecological Protection Law, revision of the Marine Environmental Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China, and adoption of a series of judicial interpretations. This Comment summarizes some of the year’s major developments.

Sustainability promotes decisions that balance social, environmental, and economic values; antitrust seeks to preserve and promote commercial competition.