Tracy Hester, Instructional Law Professor and Co-Director of the Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Center at the UH Law Center.
DEC. 19, 2025— University of Houston Law Center Professor Tracy Hester, co-director of the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources (EENR) Center, has earned an honorable mention in the seventeenth edition of the Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review (ELPAR) for his recent article, “Spinning Off Carbon: Corporate Restructuring in a Climate Bankrupt World.” The recognition places Hester’s work among the year’s most impactful contributions to environmental and energy law scholarship.
Hester’s article was selected from hundreds of environmental law articles published between August 2024 and July 2025. ELPAR—produced jointly by the Environmental Law Institute’s Environmental Law Reporter and Vanderbilt University Law School— is one of the field’s most respected forums for emerging scholarship, making Hester’s selection a notable professional distinction.
His work on climate-related corporate restructuring reflects a career focused on examining how environmental law adapts to emerging technologies and new forms of risk. As co-director of the EENR Center and the University of Houston’s Center for Carbon Management in Energy, he focuses on the legal dimensions of climate engineering, deep decarbonization, microplastics, nanoscale materials, and climate liability.
Beyond the Law Center, Hester is widely recognized for his national and international contributions—serving as President of the American College of Environmental Lawyers, advising the American Bar Association on climate issues, and participating in multiple UN climate conferences. His distinguished career includes induction as a Senior Fellow of the Global Council on Science and Environment, election to the American Law Institute, and nearly 20 years of environmental practice at Bracewell LLP.
Hester’s ELPAR contribution highlights his continued leadership in shaping the future of environmental law and policy.
