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Welcome to ELI's Innovation in Governance Programs

Sound environmental law and governance are essential to protecting the natural environment and the life and livelihoods that depend on it. By governance we mean society’s use of a range of legal tools to require or promote desired behavior. These tools could be traditional regulations, environmental assessments, information disclosure requirements, market mechanisms, economic incentives, or public policies to promote voluntary action on a scale that will enhance environmental protection.

ELI’s goal is to make these tools work for people, places and the planet. At times that goal demands that we defend vital protections under existing law. In other situations, we work to develop fresh approaches to intractable old problems or emerging new ones. Education and voluntary dissemination of best practices may be the best solution to some environmental problems, while others may call for entirely new thinking about how to balance risks and benefits to protect the public.

The Innovation in Governance Programs work to develop inventive approaches to new or entrenched environmental problems and changing technologies and economies. The programs focus on four objectives:

Investigate and promote innovative approaches to managing government agencies and private businesses that will achieve greater environmental protection.
Safeguard and strengthen the safety net of federal environmental law, its enforcement in the courts, and its state implementation through strategic research, education, and outreach.
Improve understanding of environmental governance tools by hosting visiting scholars and international delegations.
Through ELI's Center for Business Environmental Strategy, provide information, ideas and tools for corporate environmental lawyers and executives to improve environmental management.