Alex Wang

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

  • B.S. Duke University, 1993
  • J.D. New York University School of Law, 2000
  • UCLA Law Faculty Since 2013

Alex Wang is a Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law and a Faculty Co-Director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.

His research focuses on the law and politics of Chinese environmental governance. Previous work has examined Chinese climate policy, U.S.-China environmental cooperation and competition, environmental bureaucracy, information disclosure, public interest litigation, the role of state-owned enterprises in environmental governance, and symbolic uses of governance reform.

His article, "Explaining Environmental Information Disclosure in China," 44 Ecology Law Quarterly 865 (2018), was selected for 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), "Symbolic Legitimacy and Environmental Reform in China," 48 Environmental Law 699 (2018), and “Is U.S.-China Climate Action Possible in an Era of Mistrust,” in China Questions II, Harvard University Press (2022).

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

Prior to joining UCLA Law, he was a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) based in Beijing and the creator and founding director of NRDC’s China Environmental Law & Governance Project. In that capacity, he worked with China’s government agencies, legal community, and environmental groups to improve environmental laws 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.

He holds a J.D. from NYU School of Law and earned his B.S. in Biology from Duke University. He is a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and the Council on Foreign Relations, a board member of the Environmental Law Institute, and a Co-Chair of the Faculty Advisory Committee of the California-China Climate Institute.

Bibliography

  • Articles, Chapters, And Policy Reports
    • Is U.S.-China Climate Action Possible in an Era of Mistrust, in China Questions II (Harvard University Press, 2022). Full Text
    • Emissions Trading in California: Lessons for China, (with Daniel Carpenter-Gold, Siyi Shen & Andria So). supported by the Energy Foundation China (2022). Full Text
    • Key Governance Issues in California’s Carbon Cap-and-Trade System, (Daniel Carpenter-Gold & Andria So). collaborative research with Tsinghua University, the California-China Climate Institute, and UCLA School of Law, supported by the Berggreun Foundation (2022). Full Text
    • A Reply to Farber, Tsuji & Jing's Thinking Globally, Acting Locally, 83 OSLJ Online 123 (2022). Full Text
    • Coordinated Governance of Air & Climate Pollutants: Lessons from the California Experience, (with Alex Wang, David Pettit & Siyi Shen). policy white paper, supported by the Energy Foundation China (2020). Full Text
    • Symbolic Legitimacy and Chinese Environmental Reform, 48 Environmental Law 699 (2018). Full Text
    • Explaining Environmental Information Disclosure in China, 44 Ecology Law Quarterly 865 (2018). Selected for presentation at the 2017 Stanford/Harvard/Yale Junior Faculty Forum. Full Text
    • Climate Change Policy and Law in China, in Oxford Handbook of International Climate Change Law (edited by Cinnamon P. Carlarne, Kevin R. Gray, and Richard Tarasofsky, Oxford Univ. Press, 2016). Full Text
    • Chinese State Capitalism and the Environment, in Regulating the Visible Hand? The Institutional Implications of Chinese State Capitalism (edited by Curtis Milhaupt & Benjamin Liebman, Oxford Univ. Press, 2016). Full Text
    • Regulating Domestic Carbon Outsourcing: The Case of China and Climate Change, 61 UCLA Law Review 2018 (2014). Full Text
    • The Search for Sustainable Legitimacy: Environmental Law and Bureaucracy in China, 37 Harvard Environmental Law Review 365 (2013). Full Text
    • China’s Environmental Tipping Point?, in China in and Beyond the Headlines (edited by Tim Weston & Lionel Jensen, Rowman & Littlefield, 2012). Full Text
    • Environmental Courts and the Development of Environmental Public Interest Litigation in China (with Jie Gao), 3 Journal of Court Innovation 37 (2010). Full Text
    • Environmental Courts and Public Interest Litigation in China, 43 Chinese Law & Government (Nov-Dec., 2010). Alex Wang & Jie Gao, editors, No. 6. Full Text
    • The Role of Law in Environmental Protection in China: Recent Developments, 8 Vermont Journal of Environmental Law 195 (2006-2007). Full Text