Will Brieger has built his career in the spaces where environmental law meets practical enforcement. After 18 years as an environmental prosecutor under three California Attorneys General, he moved to the California Air Resources Board to lead climate enforcement just as the state’s most ambitious regulations took effect. Now, as a legislative advocate, he applies that experience to ensure new policies are not just bold on paper but enforceable in practice.
His career reflects a particular kind of public service: the behind-the-scenes work of making regulations durable, effective, and fair. “We know how to do this,” Brieger says of the climate challenge. “Now private enterprise and public leaders need to get it done.” His advocacy firm builds what he calls “runways so that green businesses and bold policy makers can fly.”
A Foundation in Public Service and Integrity
Brieger’s route to environmental law began with family. Both grandmothers devoted significant time as volunteers to environmental protection and democracy. His mother, a social worker passionate about the outdoors, civil rights, and social justice, came from a family that served as naval officers for generations dating back before the Civil War. His father, a history teacher, brought news and politics to the dinner table and took young Will to the anti-war and civil rights marches that marked the era.
“Public service was a given for me, as well as my brother and sister,” Brieger explains. His heroes were the lawyers who drove the civil rights movement. After Amherst College and UC Davis Law School, he channeled what he calls his “athlete’s competitiveness” into getting results in courts and negotiations for renewable energy and environmental clients.
The defining moment came when he researched and drafted the complaint in the nation’s first climate lawsuit more than two decades ago. That work taught him enough about the issue that he spent the next quarter century focused exclusively on climate and air quality. “The warming planet, and knowing that we already know how to solve the problem, clarified for me that what remains is simply enacting legal and economic policies that will get us there,” he says.
For Brieger, personal and professional values are completely aligned: integrity and service. He often tells younger professionals to be more confident: “I belong at the front of the pack.” But his definition of success centers on helping others achieve, not personal recognition.
California Climate and Air Quality Enforcement Leadership
When Brieger arrived at CARB in 2012, he brought 18 years of experience prosecuting civil and criminal environmental cases, including several air quality cases representing CARB as a Deputy Attorney General. His timing was deliberate. The agency’s new climate regulations were just going into effect, and his role was to make CARB’s already impressive enforcement program more effective.
He led all enforcement related to climate regulations, conducting internal reviews, revising policies, and setting high standards within CARB while establishing clear expectations in regulated sectors. As climate regulations were adopted or amended, Brieger drafted enforcement provisions across several programs, giving regulated parties clarity while allowing for effective deterrence where needed.
He worked extensively with the Low Carbon Fuel Standard program, advising through a major regulatory revision and assisting in drafting the changes. His approach to regulatory design balanced fairness with effectiveness. “In fairness to all parties, regulations need to be as simple and clearly designed as possible,” he explains. “Designing climate policies that reward desired actions and prohibit other conduct in California’s diverse and ever-changing economy inevitably results in some complexity. Providing flexibility is the key.”
That philosophy reflects what Brieger calls CARB’s “secret sauce from the beginning”: setting standards without dictating exactly how to achieve desired outcomes. Market-based programs exemplify this flexibility, but they demand strict enforcement. “Market rules must be strictly enforced lest one party’s failing harm all other market participants,” he notes.
Environmental Policy Strategy: Making Regulations Work
Brieger’s enforcement philosophy centers on a principle that shapes his broader approach to policy: enforcement must be paired with compliance assistance. It would be unjust, he argues, to harshly punish parties who simply did not understand how to comply. Where compliance assistance or private advice is available, rules are usually understood, just as the public knows that robbing banks is illegal.
But when violations occur despite clear guidance, consequences must adequately deter others. He offers a stark analogy: “If only half of bank robbers are caught and the consequence was simply to return the money, imagine how many bank robberies would follow.”
One case illustrates this principle. When a company’s misrepresentations to CARB’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard program during its first few years allowed the company to profit by earning thousands of environmental credits, Brieger required the party to return all of the valuable credits and pay a significant penalty for each improperly obtained credit. The message was clear: gaming the system would cost more than playing by the rules.
This approach, combining generous compliance assistance with meaningful consequences for intentional violations, produced what Brieger calls “stunningly high compliance rates” in CARB’s Cap and Invest program. CARB learned from emissions trading programs around the world that accurate emission reporting and strict adherence to market rules are integral to successful market programs. Brieger’s work enforcing the twin reporting and trading programs demonstrated that market-based climate policy could achieve both environmental effectiveness and high compliance when properly designed and enforced.
Brieger identifies CARB’s continuous investment in scientific research as the most significant climate policy advancement during his tenure. That research allowed the agency to design effective emission reduction policies grounded in data rather than assumptions. “Most importantly, CARB has continuously followed and funded scientific research that allows it to design effective emission reduction policies,” he says.
The Transition to Legislative Advocacy and Government Affairs
Brieger’s move to legislative advocacy represents a natural evolution rather than a departure. As an environmental prosecutor, he was exposed to the legislative process and found it fascinating. The Attorney General recognized his legal acumen and abilities as a negotiator, sending him to the Capitol to move civil rights and environmental bills into California law.
Whether representing the People, the Governor, the Air Resources Board, or climate nonprofits, Brieger has engaged effectively on energy, fuels, and other climate policy issues across all three branches of California state government. In federal courts, he worked with Attorneys General from other states to file the nation’s first climate change lawsuit two decades ago.
Now, as a legislative advocate, he brings a prosecutor’s understanding of what makes regulations enforceable. He knows which policy designs will survive legal challenges, which enforcement mechanisms will produce compliance rather than litigation, and how to balance aggressive climate goals with practical implementation for businesses and regulated industries.
This behind-the-scenes expertise matters because poorly designed regulations can undermine even the best policy intentions. A rule that is too vague invites legal challenges. One that is too rigid stifles innovation. Enforcement provisions that are too weak encourage violations; those that are too harsh without adequate compliance assistance create resentment and pushback.
Brieger’s role is to identify these pitfalls before they become problems. He helps green businesses navigate regulatory processes, advises policymakers on implementation challenges, and ensures that bold climate goals translate into durable, effective law.
Professional Philosophy on Advocacy and Public Trust
Brieger’s approach to advocacy reflects decades of public service. He takes seriously the responsibility of representing clients in the legislative process, but he does so with an understanding that effective governance requires trust, clarity, and fairness.
“Private enterprise and public leaders need to get it done,” he says, referring to the climate challenge. His advocacy work focuses on creating the conditions for that to happen: regulations that provide clarity, enforcement that is fair but meaningful, and policies that reward desired actions while prohibiting harmful conduct.
He remains involved in community service, helping foster youth through the Court Appointed Special Advocates program for more than a decade and serving on nonprofit boards focused on education, environment, and youth sports. He credits his mother and grandmothers with instilling the value of volunteer service to protect the environment and democracy.
For stress management and work-life balance, Brieger carves out time for loved ones and outdoor exercise, preferably on or in the water through rowing, sailing, or swimming. He has three children and six young grandchildren. When asked about his proudest achievements, he points first to raising thoughtful children who contribute to society.
Building Runways for Climate Progress
Brieger’s career arc from prosecutor to regulator to advocate reflects a consistent commitment to effective environmental governance. He has worked on climate and air quality issues from every angle: filing groundbreaking lawsuits, prosecuting violations, designing enforcement programs, drafting regulations, and now shaping legislation.
That breadth of experience gives him a unique perspective on what California needs to meet its climate goals. It is not more bold announcements or aspirational targets. It is the hard work of ensuring that regulations are clear enough to follow, enforceable enough to matter, and flexible enough to allow innovation.
“We already know how to solve the problem,” Brieger insists. What remains is building the legal and economic infrastructure to make it happen. His work focuses on creating those runways, the regulatory and legislative frameworks that allow green businesses to scale and bold policymakers to succeed.
This is not the work that generates headlines or builds personal brands. It is the work of making the government function effectively in service of public goals. For Brieger, that has always been enough. Integrity and service. Helping others achieve. Building systems that work.
After more than 25 years focused on climate and air quality, Will Brieger continues doing what he has always done: applying legal expertise, enforcement experience, and policy knowledge to the challenge of translating climate science into effective law. The difference now is that he works earlier in the process, shaping legislation before it becomes regulation, identifying implementation challenges before they become crises, and helping ensure that California’s climate leadership rests on a foundation of enforceable, durable policy.
