Environmental Law & Policy Hack

The Environmental Law and Policy Hack is a competition launched in 2020 by Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University. It aims to stimulate innovative legal problem solving around social and environmental issues by presenting an interdisciplinary team of students with a real-life problem.

In 2024, the Haub Law partnered with the University of Miami School of Law as co-host of the 2025 Hack Competition. Together, Haub and Miami Law crafted the problem and the rules, and the 2025 competition was announced at NY Climate Week.

How It Works

The 2025 Environmental Law and Policy Hack competition challenges participants to re-envision how capital could flow to resilient urban infrastructure, by examining policy interventions, regulatory changes, or new institutional arrangements that might help scale investment in both the innovation and implementation of resilience-building infrastructure in cities.

In this Hack there is climate problem proposed and teams present their solutions to the problem. After review of solutions, three teams are chosen to participate in the final competition Hack in Miami, FL.

2025 ProblemHow do we capture and monetize the broad value of nature-based solutions and the ecosystem services they provide? How can we convert the so-called “resilience dividends” into a viable financial structure that perpetuates and scales investment?

Deadlines & Registration

Registrations are open until January 1, 2025 with team briefs due on February 10, 2025.

Register Your Team

Final Competition & Winners

The final competition will take place in person in Miami in March in conjunction with the University of Miami's Climate Resilience Institute’s annual symposium that will be in South Beach. The three finalist teams will present their proposals to a panel of judges in Miami Beach on March 23, 2025, with travel costs supported by Miami Law and Haub Law. 

The winning team will be awarded seed funding of $ 2,000 towards efforts to deploy their solution.

For More Information or Questions

More information on the competition can be found on 2025 Environmental Law and Policy Hack Competition website. Questions may be directed to Anne Olson, Environmental Program Manager, Elisabeth Haub School of Law, aolson@law.pace.edu.

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