Michael Burger is the Executive Director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. His research and advocacy focus on legal strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote climate change adaptation through pollution control, resource management, land use planning and green finance. Michael frequently collaborates with researchers across Columbia's Earth Institute, and with local and national environmental groups, government representatives, and international organizations. He is a widely published scholar, a frequent speaker at conferences and symposiums, and a regular source for media outlets. Previously, Michael was associate professor at Roger Williams University School of Law, where he taught environmental law, administrative law, and law and literature, and founded and directed the Environmental and Land Use Law Clinical Externship program. He has taught in the Lawyering Program at New York University School of Law, and served in the Environmental Law Division of New York City’s Office of the Corporation Counsel. He has lead courses on climate change and human rights in the Hague and Grand Cayman. He is chair of the New York City Bar Association International Environmental Law Committee. Michael is a graduate of Columbia Law School and Brown University, and has an MFA in Creative Writing from NYU.

 His research and advocacy focus on legal strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote climate change adaptation through pollution control, resource management, land use planning and green finance.