In the Media

A six part series on Next Generation Compliance by the Penn Program on Regulation.

The Promise of Next Generation Compliance, by Cynthia Giles. Reviews by Cary Coglianese, John Cruden, Rena Steinzor, and Jay Shimshack, with a response by Cynthia Giles.

“Magnificant”

—Cary Coglianese, “A Modern Classic on Regulatory Compliance.”

“Next Generation Compliance is destined to become the authoritative work on compliance assurance innovation.”

—Jay Shimshack, “Next Generation Compliance and Evidence-Based Policy.”

“Offsets are a top-of-mind, recent illustration of the fundamental issue that my book addresses: designing public programs so they do not just look good on paper, but actually deliver in the messy and complicated real world. Because that’s the place that matters.”

—Cynthia Giles, “What Carbon Offsets Tell Us About Why Environmental Programs Fail.”

“[O]ne of the most important books on regulation to appear in a long time.”

—Cary Coglianese, “Step Aside Chester Bowles.”

“This book is a “must-read” for environmental policy makers, program managers, rule writers, lawmakers, and scholars.”

—Catherine R. McCabe, “Environmental Regulation in the U.S.: Popular Myths, the Reality, and How to Do it Better.”

“Giles’ book is terrific, real, practical, and no-nonsense advice on environmental regulation.”

—Seema Kakade, “A Playbook on How to Achieve Compliance with Environmental Regulations.”

Videos

Cynthia Giles and other panelists:

Analyzing How Technology Can Transform Environmental Rule of Law, Environmental Law Institute, part of An ELI series on Global Environmental Rule of Law

Recorded April 3, 2024 (video access for ELI members only)

Next Generation Compliance hosted by American University.

“The extent of Cynthia’s knowledge – the deep experience, the analysis with careful examples, and the comprehensive understanding of choices – is, in my view, better than anything I have seen on any of the analyses about the future of environmental protection.”

—Bill Reilly, former EPA administrator

March 11, 2020, “Next Generation Compliance: An Environmental Compliance Paradigm for the Modern Era,” (virtual) presentation at Environmental Collaboration: Shaping the Future of Regulation, Compliance and Enforcement Together, a conference sponsored by the Australasian Environmental Law Enforcement and Regulators neTwork (AELERT) and the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (INECE) in Australia.

Podcasts

Volts, with David Roberts

Recorded June 22, 2021

In this episode, career environmental regulator Cynthia Giles discusses the rampant rule-breaking common in environmental rule and regulations and how to solve the problem — not with greater enforcement, but with smarter rule design.

Interview of Cynthia Giles about Next Generation Compliance in CleanLaw, the podcast of the Harvard Environmental and Energy Law Program.

Praise for Next Generation Compliance

  • “Next Generation Compliance is a must read for anyone who cares about environmental sustainability and the regulatory state. The book is a tour de force, showing that environmental violations are pervasive and offering a blueprint for designing rules with compliance built in.”

    —Daniel E. Ho, William Benjamin Scott and Luna M. Scott Professor of Law, Stanford University

  • “Drawing on her distinguished career in law enforcement and public leadership, Cynthia Giles articulates an important vision for how to design regulation to drive real environmental improvements—offering vital insights for policymakers and the public alike. Anyone who wants to understand how law can protect the planet’s future should read this book.”

    —Cary Coglianese, Edward B. Shils Professor of Law, Director, Penn Program on Regulation, University of Pennsylvania

  • “Environmental regulations can be designed to succeed. Giles explains why and shows us how, not in abstract theory, but in real world practice.”

    —Michael Greenstone, Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor in Economics at the University of Chicago

  • “Cynthia Giles, who led the Environmental Protection Agency’s enforcement and compliance efforts with great distinction for a record eight years, has written a must-read book for anyone concerned about the gap between a regulation’s promise and what the regulated community accomplishes in practice. She argues persuasively that attention to compliance must be a central design feature of any successful regulation, and cannot, as typically has been the case, be a mere afterthought.”

    —Richard L. Revesz, AnBryce Professor of Law and Dean Emeritus, New York University School of Law

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