James E. Hansen Dr. James Hansen, formerly Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, where he directs a program in Climate Science, Awareness, and Solutions. He was trained in physics and astronomy in the space science program of Dr. James Van Allen at the University of Iowa. His early research on the clouds of Venus helped identify their composition as sulfuric acid. Since the late 1970s, he has focused his research on Earth’s climate, especially human-made climate change. Dr. Hansen is best known for his testimony on climate change to congressional committees in the 1980s that helped raise broad awareness of the global warming issue. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1995 and was designated by Time Magazine in 2006 as one of the 100 most influential people on Earth. He has received numerous awards including the Carl-Gustaf Rossby and Roger Revelle Research Medals, the Sophie Prize, and the Blue Planet Prize. Dr. Hansen is recognized for speaking truth to power, for identifying ineffectual policies as greenwash, and for outlining actions that the public must take to protect the future of young people and other life on our planet. Maastricht Principles Drafting Group The Maastricht Principles Drafting Group included the following international legal experts who submitted their original letter in their personal capacities: Olivier De Schutter, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food and professor at the University of Louvain, Belgium; Asbjørn Eide, former Director and presently Professor Emeritus at the Norwegian Center for Human Rights at the University of Oslo; Ashfaq Khalfan, Director of Law and Policy Programme Amnesty International - International Secretariat; Dr. Marcos A. Orellana; Ian Seiderman, Legal and Policy Director of the International Commission of Jurists; Rolf Künnemann, Human Rights Director, FIAN International Secretariat; Jernej Letnar Černič, Associate Professor of Human Rights Law, Graduate School of Government and European Studies, Slovenia; and Bret Thiele, Co-Executive Director, Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The first five individuals mentioned above were part of a drafting group that led the drafting process and elaborated the commentary to the Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations of States in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, a restatement and interpretation of legally binding standards in international law by 40 international experts, including current and former UN Special Procedures and human rights treaty body members. Kristine Perry assisted in the drafting of the underlying letter and was the person responsible for compiling their contribution on this joint summary. Our Children’s Trust Our Children’s Trust is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization leading a global human rights and environmental justice campaign to secure the legal right to a healthy atmosphere and stable climate on behalf of present and future generations. All of the work of Our Children’s Trust is guided by three core principles. First, Our Children’s Trust advocates for and elevates the voice of youth and future generations in the struggle for climate justice. Climate change affects all sectors of society to varying degrees. However, children and future generations are among the most vulnerable to climate change impacts, will live with the consequences of climate change longer than any other group, and often have the least amount of political power to effect change 6