The Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA School of Law

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Alex Wang

Professor of Law
Faculty Co-Director, Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment

Alex Wang is Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law and Faculty Co-Director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. He is a leading expert on environmental governance and the law and politics of China. His research focuses on the social effects of law, and the interaction of law and institutions in China and the United States. His previous research has examined, among other things, the institutional design of environmental law and policy, environmental bureaucracy, public interest litigation, information disclosure, and environmental courts. His work has addressed air pollution, climate change, and other environmental issues.

His article, “Explaining Environmental Information Disclosure in China,” 44 Ecology Law Quarterly 865 (2018), was selected for presentation at the 2017 Harvard/Yale/Stanford Junior Faculty Forum. Other representative works include: “The Search for Sustainable Legitimacy: Environmental Law and Bureaucracy in China,” 37 Harvard Environmental Law Review 365 (2013) and “Symbolic Legitimacy and Environmental Reform in China,” 48 Environmental Law 699 (2018).

At UCLA, he teaches courses in torts, Chinese law, and environmental law. He has been a visiting assistant professor at UC Berkeley School of Law.

Prior to 2011, Wang was a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) based in Beijing and the founding director of NRDC’s China Environmental Law & Governance Project. In this capacity, he worked with China’s government agencies, legal community, and environmental groups to improve environmental rule of law and strengthen the role of the public in environmental protection. He helped to establish NRDC’s Beijing office in 2006. He was a Fulbright Fellow to China from 2004-05.

Wang holds a J.D. from NYU School of Law and earned his B.S. in Biology with distinction from Duke University. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, as well as a member and former fellow (2008-10) of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. He is a regular speaker on issues related to China and environmental protection.