As 2025 comes to a close, People, Places, Planet takes stock of a year of profound change in environmental law—and looks ahead to the legal and policy questions that will shape 2026. Host Sebastian Duque Rios draws on insights from ELI convenings with leading scholars, practitioners, scientists, and policymakers to unpack how courts, agencies, and governments are redefining environmental authority and accountability.

The episode covers key U.S. Supreme Court decisions and previews cases to watch in the upcoming term, explores sweeping changes to NEPA and administrative law, and examines the growing treatment of climate change as a legal rights issue in both U.S. and international courts. It also looks at how these high-level legal debates are playing out on the ground—from data centers and AI infrastructure to clean water, cooperative federalism, and the shifting balance of state and federal power.

• Supreme Court environmental law review and preview (1:47)
• NEPA after Seven County and CEQ rescission (14:57)
• Climate change and rights in the courts (26:17)
• The future of the endangerment finding (32:36)
• On the ground: data centers, cooperative federalism, and WOTUS (36:42)

See ELI's resources for more information:

• Annual Supreme Court Review & Preview (2025)
• The Future of NEPA Review: Unpacking the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition Decision
• Held v. Montana: A 2025 Update
• Unpacking the ICJ's Recent Opinion on Climate Change
• Scientific Support for the Endangerment Finding
• National Environmental Impacts of Data Center Proliferation
• Data Centers and Water Usage
• Celebrating Collaboration: ECOS and the Future of State-Level Environmental Policy

This is a special edition episode in Spanish with our Colombian partner on ELI's Environmental Defenders Database project. If you'd like to learn more, please visit our Vibrant Environment blog for an English summary of the episode, or listen to our last episode in February on this topic, "Environmental Defenders: On the Front Lines of Conservation".

Los defensores ambientales desempeñan un papel fundamental en la protección de los ecosistemas del mundo, pero cada año cientos de defensores son amenazados, detenidos, y asesinados. Esta realidad destaca la necesidad urgente de contar con mayores garantías, datos confiables y respuestas institucionales coordinadas. En este episodio, el anfitrión de People, Places, Planet, Sebastian Duque Ríos conversa con Kristine Perry (Environmental Law Institute) y Luis Felipe Guzmán Jiménez (Universidad Externado de Colombia), quienes comparten su conocimiento sobre los riesgos que enfrentan los defensores ambientales en Colombia y las iniciativas que buscan fortalecer su protección.

Juntos analizan quiénes son los defensores ambientales en el contexto colombiano y las rutas que el país podría seguir para garantizar justicia a las víctimas de estos ataques. También abordan el potencial de acuerdos regionales como el Acuerdo de Escazú para avanzar en su protección. Finalmente, el episodio destaca el trabajo continuo de ELI para desarrollar una base de datos que registre investigaciones y procesos judiciales relacionados con ataques letales contra defensores ambientales.

Para más información, consulte la Plataforma para Proteger a los Defensores Ambientales de ELI.

Environmental justice continues to evolve as states respond to shifting federal priorities and community needs. New Jersey has emerged as a leader, integrating equity considerations into core environmental programs, supported by its landmark 2020 EJ law and a long-standing emphasis on strong environmental protections.

In this episode, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn LaTourette joins Beveridge & Diamond’s Hilary Jacobs and Justin Smith to discuss how the state is operationalizing EJ, measuring progress, and adapting to the major changes in federal policy and funding with the new Administration. Commissioner LaTourette outlines how New Jersey incorporates environmental justice into decision-making, the practical work of translating EJ principles into concrete, data-driven actions, and the challenges of aligning state and federal roles. The conversation also explores support for community-based organizations, funding constraints, and how businesses can navigate evolving EJ frameworks.

This episode is part of the Groundtruth series created in partnership with Beveridge & Diamond, one of the nation’s leading environmental law and litigation firms.