Peter Lehner directs Earthjustice’s Sustainable Food & Farming Program, developing legal strategies to promote a safe, just, and climate-friendly food system. Peter is one of the leading experts on the impact of agriculture on climate change and is the author of Farming for Our Future; the Science, Law, and Policy of Climate-Neutral Agriculture.
From 2007–2015, Peter was the executive director of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the NRDC Action Fund. From 1999–2006, Peter served as chief of the Environmental Protection Bureau of the New York State Attorney General’s Office. Earlier, Peter created and led the environmental prosecution unit for the New York City Law Department.
Peter clerked for Chief Judge James Browning of the Ninth Circuit. He holds an AB in philosophy and mathematics from Harvard College and a JD from Columbia University Law School. He now teaches a course on food systems and environmental law at Columbia and Yale Law Schools.
Peter helps manage two mid-sized farms, one of which is Rainforest Alliance, EUDR, and carbon neutral certified.