Our mission  

The Emmett Clean Energy Law & Leadership (E-CELL) project produces actionable research, analysis and scholarship that advances real solutions to urgent problems in energy law and policy. We aim to help transform the grid to zero emissions; build out the energy storage and transmission we need; and redesign our utility rates and regulations to account for the likely increase in household electricity demand and decrease in gas usage. To these ends, we engage with policymakers at the state and federal level to transform the energy system and legal regimes to enable progress while training the next generation of energy leaders. 

Our work  

We work to create law and policy innovations to secure a clean, resilient, and affordable energy system for all.  We engage with community groups and other stakeholders, participate in regulatory work, develop and circulate policy solutions, publish trailblazing white papers, and support legislators to develop new laws.  

Our current projects focus on:  

• Energy affordability and rate reform: Utility rates must evolve to effectively support clean energy resources, while also securing energy affordability for vulnerable, underserved communities.  

• Ownership of energy resources: We apply real-world data and analysis to help inform regulatory and policy decisionmaking regarding resource compensation and utility governance. We also aim to help localities that are considering a move toward public power to structure the most effective governing approach possible. 

• Gas transition: We produce media-friendly policy reports and file comments to support public utility commissions as they build the framework for an effective shift away from fossil gas toward emissions-free alternatives.  

• Training Energy Policy Leaders: Energy agencies have unique and complex regulatory processes, which can be tricky to navigate for newcomers, even those with legal training. We will train students to engage in energy regulatory proceedings, including offering opportunities to represent nonprofit clients in proceedings before public utility commissions.  

Who We Are 

California is at the forefront of the clean energy transition and our UCLA Emmett Institute experts are uniquely suited to support California and Los Angeles policymakers in navigating the changing legal landscape—and to help other jurisdictions learn from California’s example. 

Emmett Institute faculty co-director and Michael J. Klein Professor of Law William Boyd focuses on energy law and regulation, studying the history of public utilities and leading the Laboratory for Energy and Environmental Policy Innovation, a group that supports energy sector policy experiments. Professor Timothy Malloy is a leading expert on regulatory policy and part of a UC-wide research project for the state of California on the governance of utility-scale battery projects. Emmett Institute faculty director and Dan and Rae Emmett Professor of Environmental Law Ted Parson has studied innovative policies in California and other jurisdictions to limit emissions from transport fuels. Energy Law & Policy Project Director Denise Grab has spent over a decade advancing clean energy policy at nonprofits and before government regulators, working on issues ranging from building electrification to distributed energy resources to renewables deployment.  Ruthie Lazenby is the Shapiro Fellow in Environmental Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law. She studies the political economy of the electric power sector, with an emphasis on equity in rates and ownership structures. 

We have, and will continue to cultivate, strong relationships with clean energy professionals in the public and private sectors to share knowledge, advance market-driven solutions, and build our students’ understanding of the energy sector. We also partner with a wide range of clean energy nonprofits and community advocates to support their efforts to secure an equitable clean energy future for all.