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Erika Rosenthal

Senior Attorney International Program

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Kathryn McGrath
Public Affairs and Communications Strategist
(202) 516-6932
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Erika Rosenthal is a senior attorney with the International program working to accelerate the clean energy transition in key countries around the world. Her portfolio/docket focuses on supporting non-government organizations (NGOs) and forward-leaning national and local governments to overcome legal barriers to deployment of least-cost renewable energy, fight energy poverty, and engage in energy planning. 

Her work includes assisting NGOs to challenge regressive law and regulation that favors dirty, fossil energy; providing legal assistance to C40, the network of megacities fighting climate change, to advance initiatives to increase low-carbon energy supply; and helping to build an African initiative to raise local citizen and government voices in national energy decision-making.  

She also has significant expertise in international negotiations and has spearheaded Earthjustice’s advocacy work on the Paris Agreement (including supporting small island developing states at the negotiations), at the UN Environmental Program, and on negotiations at the Arctic Council to reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants such as black carbon, methane and ozone. 

The Latest from Erika Rosenthal

April 24, 2024

Organizaciones Ambientalistas en Chile Recurren al Tribunal Ambiental para Invalidar Norma de Gas “Inflexible” que Prioriza Artificialmente la Electricidad Proveniente de GNL Sobre las Renovables

By Erika Rosenthal

La “inflexibilidad” que la norma otorga al gas crea una ficción que le baja el precio al GNL, dándole prioridad en el despacho
April 24, 2024

Environmental Organizations in Chile Ask the Environmental Court to Invalidate a Rule that Artificially Prioritizes Electricity from LNG Over Renewables

By Erika Rosenthal

The so-called “Inflexible” gas regulation creates a fiction to lower the price of LNG.
Wangan and Jagalingou cultural leader Adrian Burragubba visits Doongmabulla Springs in Australia. We’re helping Australian indigenous peoples, including Burragubba, take their fight against a giant coal mine to the United Nations.
December 10, 2018

Together, We Can Rise to the Challenge of Climate Change — Even If the Trump Administration Won’t

By Erika Rosenthal

In the absence of common sense in Washington, communities, cities and states are stepping up to take the lead.
The U.S. exit from the Paris Agreement means it’s up to the rest of us to move forward with climate change, says President Tommy Remengesau. His island nation is doing just that.
June 2, 2017

President of Palau: If U.S. Won’t Lead, We All Will

By Erika Rosenthal

The U.S. exit from the Paris Agreement means it’s up to the rest of us to move forward on climate action, says President Tommy Remengesau. His island nation is doing just that.
Schoolchildren, all wearing shirts with the words: “Your Promise, Our Future,” streamed down the aisles at the close of the Paris Agreement signing ceremony at the UN General Assembly in New York, April 22, 2016.
May 19, 2017

Staying in the Paris Agreement puts America, and the planet, first

By Erika Rosenthal

Exiting the climate deal would sacrifice U.S. leadership, clean energy jobs, and our children’s future.
Paris climate talks, November 30
December 23, 2015

A Toast to the Paris Agreement: Accelerating an Energy Transformation

By Erika Rosenthal

Marking a new era in global cooperation, the agreement instills a sense of urgency and opportunity while acknowledging the enormous challenges ahead.
Eiffel tower at night in Paris
December 10, 2015

Fateful 48 Hours Will Help Shape Our Collective Future

By Erika Rosenthal

Time is running short for negotiators in Paris to reach an ambitious and equitable agreement that will bring global greenhouse gas emissions under control.
People's Climate March in Brisbane, Australia in 2014.
December 1, 2015

The “Honorable Gentleman” from Kentucky on Climate Change

By Erika Rosenthal

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has been outspoken in his denial of climate change, but many of his "facts" don't add up.
Wind energy
November 12, 2015

Paris 2015: Signaling a Sea Change in the Global Climate Fight?

By Erika Rosenthal

World leaders must craft a climate plan in Paris ambitious enough to spur new investments in renewable energy and to keep emissions reduction targets falling in the years to come.
melting glacier
April 23, 2015

Strong U.S. Leadership Can Deliver on Black Carbon Reductions in the Arctic

By Erika Rosenthal

When the U.S. assumes the chair of the Arctic Council this Friday, it will have an extraordinary opportunity to lead on reducing emissions of black carbon and methane.
The UN climate talks in Lima, Peru.
December 22, 2014

Looking Back on Lima and Looking Forward to Paris

By Erika Rosenthal

So, was the Lima climate accord enough? Take a look at some of the highlights (and low lights) and decide for yourself.
Children in Haiti hold up signs urging the international community to take action on climate change.
September 24, 2014

Tackling the Challenge of Climate Change: A Near-Term Actionable Mitigation Agenda

By Erika Rosenthal

Commissioned by the Republic of Nauru, Chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and written by 30 leading climate and energy experts from around the world
June 22, 2012

Protection Of Oceans A Bright Spot At Rio+20

By Erika Rosenthal

The news out of the Rio+20 Earth Summit has been bleak. World leaders, yet again caught in the headlights of financial crises and electoral cycles, fundamentally failed us and the planet. However, there is a bright spot—and it is blue. Both the formal Rio text and the voluntary, on-the-ground and on the water commitments nations…
May 18, 2012

Join Us In Rio, President Obama

By Erika Rosenthal

Twenty-two environmental organizations including Earthjustice, representing more than 5 million Americans, sent a letter to President Obama on Friday, urging him to lead the U.S. delegation at the Rio+20 Earth Summit in June and be a strong advocate for action on clean energy, environmental rights and healthy oceans. More than 130 heads of state and…
February 16, 2012

Clinton Acts To Reduce Global Warming Pollutants

By Erika Rosenthal

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, along with EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, announced a program, Climate and Clean Air Coalition, today to reduce methane, soot and other pollutants. The United States is jumpstarting the program by contributing $12 million over the next two years. "By focusing on these pollutants, how to reduce them and, where possible,…
December 12, 2011

U.S. Falls Short At U.N. Climate Conference

By Erika Rosenthal

(Earthjustice attorney Erika Rosenthal represented the organization at U.N. climate talks that wrapped up Sunday in Durban, South Africa.) The first U.N. climate talks held on African soil ended in the wee hours of Sunday with important progress in several key areas – preserving the Kyoto Protocol, launching negotiations on a new more comprehensive accord,…
December 9, 2011

Will World's Nations Use Road Map To Fix Climate Change?

By Erika Rosenthal

(Earthjustice attorney Erika Rosenthal is attending the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Durban, South Africa. This is the second in a series of blogs she will be filing from the conference.) Fairness isn’t a philosophical or academic question here in Durban. Deep divisions on…
December 7, 2011

Island Nations Plea For Controls On Climate Change

By Erika Rosenthal

(Earthjustice attorney Erika Rosenthal is attending the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Durban, South Africa. This is the first in a series of blogs she will be filing from the conference.) “We will succeed together, or we will fail together.” – Sprent Dabwido,…
May 18, 2011

Melting of Greenland A Warning For The Planet

By Erika Rosenthal

From the Kangerlussuaq airport, at 67 degrees North in Greenland… It’s four hours to New York and five to Moscow, but only three to the North Pole. People are speaking Danish and the language of the Inuit people. I’m writing at the airport on my way home from the Arctic Council ministerial meeting, held in the capital, Nuuk, about…
December 15, 2010

Cancun Conference Results In Critical Steps Forward

By Erika Rosenthal

Developed and developing countries make key agreements
December 10, 2010

In Cancun, Compromise Is The Key To Climate Change Progress

By Erika Rosenthal

Give and take must occur among developing, developed nations
December 18, 2009

"The Catastrophe Is At Our Door"

By Erika Rosenthal

In the final hours at Copenhagen, depth of crisis is daunting
December 16, 2009

A Long Night At The Copenhagen Climate Conference

By Erika Rosenthal

Two years' effort comes down to two words: "shall" or "should"
December 11, 2009

Apocalypse-Soon: Copenhagen Views The Climate Future

By Erika Rosenthal

Nightmare of drought and drowning is no dream scenario
December 9, 2009

France, South Africa Take The Lead in Copenhagen

By Erika Rosenthal

Both pledge major emission cuts—demonstrating principle of fairness
December 15, 2008

Yes, We Can.

By Erika Rosenthal

A miracle, just take a look around: this inescapable earth. – Wislawa Szymborska, Polish poet and Nobel Laureate Yes, we can. As Martin wrote earlier in the week, the negotiations that just concluded in Poznan fell short of expectations. But take heart – the talks did deliver on the fundamental objective of providing a negotiation…
December 13, 2008

Avoiding Catastrophic Arctic Tipping Points

By Erika Rosenthal

The world is now meeting in Poland to tackle global warming – and Earthjustice is there. Read our daily dispatches. The Federated States of Micronesia, one of the leading voices of the Alliance of Small Island States – countries whose very existence are threatened by global warming-induced sea level rise – has called on the…
December 8, 2008

A New Leaf: Tackling Deforestation and Climate Change Together

By Erika Rosenthal

The world is now meeting in Poland to tackle global warming – and Earthjustice is there. Read our daily dispatches. Saturday was Forest Day at the climate negotiations in Poznan. Many people think of forests in terms of the CO2 that they absorb, or "sequester"– the rainforests of the Amazon, Congo and Indonesia are known…
December 5, 2008

Stakes are High at Climate Summit

By Erika Rosenthal

The world is now meeting in Poland to tackle global warming – and Earthjustice is there. Read our daily dispatches. More than 10,000 people have gathered in Pozna?, Poland this week for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, to advance negotiations that aim to set the world on a path toward a lower carbon future…