Speaker details

Biography

John C. Dernbach is Professor Emeritus at Widener University Commonwealth Law School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He writes widely on sustainable development, climate change law, environmental law, and constitutional environmental law. His scholarship and advocacy were cited extensively in landmark Pennsylvania Supreme Court decisions in 2013 and 2017 that reinvigorated the state constitution’s Environmental Rights Amendment. He is also a co-editor of The Public Trust Doctrine in Environmental and Natural Resources Law (4th ed. 2025), with Michael Blumm and Mary Wood. Professor Dernbach is the principal author, editor, or co-editor of four books assessing and making recommendations on U.S. progress toward sustainability; the latest is Governing for Sustainability (Environmental Law Institute 2023; co-edited with Scott Schang). He is coauthor, with Matt Bogoshian and Irma Russell, of Sustainability Essentials: Lawyering to Make a Difference (American Bar Association 2022). He is also co-editor, with Michael Gerrard, of Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States (2019), a comprehensive analysis and description of more than 1,000 legal tools for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. He is active with the American Bar Association and the International Bar Association on climate change and sustainable development Prior to joining the Widener faculty, he was the principal drafter of four major waste and mining laws at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources (now the Department of Environmental Protection). He received a J.D. cum laude from the University of Michigan and a B.S. summa cum laude from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the American Bar Association’s Award for Distinguished Achievement in Environmental Law and Policy.