Gregorio Rafael Bueta

Gregorio Rafael Bueta is a private legal practitioner and consultant based in the Philippines specializing in environment, climate change, and sustainable development law and adjudication. He has worked with the public and private sector, and with various international development organizations. He has extensively worked with judiciaries and legal professionals across Asia on environment and climate change law, with particular in-country experience in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Fiji, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. Grip has also been involved in legal and regulatory reforms in South Asia in areas such as energy trade and corporate governance.

Grip advises on legal and regulatory matters to companies in construction, management services, and NGOs. He has guided clients on corporate registration, ESG and sustainability strategies, intellectual property concerns, compliance matters, litigation, special projects and commercial arbitration, among others. Complimentary to his focus on environment and climate law, Grip has also worked on topics and issues such as natural resource utilization, local government solutions (PPPs and financing options, governance), energy policy reform (transitions), climate change and businesses, judicial reforms, e-commerce, rule of law and access to justice, promotion of human rights, and children’s rights, among many others.

He is a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature – World Commission on Environmental Law. He also lectures on Natural Resources and Environmental Law, and International Environment and Climate Change Law, at the Ateneo de Manila University School of Law. He currently serves as Judicial Capacity Building and Knowledge Management Expert (Consultant) with the Asian Development Bank; Legal Consultant of EcoWaste Coalition; Fellow of Parabukas, Inc.; and as a Principal Advisor of Climate Smart Ventures, Inc.

Grip has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the Ateneo de Manila University, and earned his Juris Doctor Degree from the same institution, where he was the recipient of the St. Thomas More Most Distinguished Graduate Award.

Papers and Publications

• "Do the LOCALmotion: Local Government Powers and Climate Change in the Philippines", (upcoming) Ateneo Law Journal, 2021
• “Circular Economy Policy Initiatives and Experiences in the Philippines: Lessons for Asia Pacific and Beyond”, Asian Development Bank Institute, June 2021
• “EPR Scheme Assessment for Plastic Packaging Waste in the Philippines”, WWF-Philippines, October 2020
• “Waste trade in the Philippines: How local and global policy instruments can stop the tide of
  foreign waste dumping in the country”
• Greenpeace Philippines and EcoWaste Coalition, March 2020
• “The Heat is On: Prospects for Climate Change Litigation in the Philippines”
  Ateneo Law Journal, Volume 62, 2018
• “Harmonizing Electricity Laws in South Asia: Recommendations to Implement the SAARC Framework Agreement on Energy Trade”, (co-editor) Asian Development Bank, October 2017
• “Institutions for Future Generations in Asia” in Intergenerational Justice in Sustainable Development Treaty Implementation (co-authored with Dean Antonio G.M. La Vina), for publication by Cambridge University Press
• “Proceedings of the Fourth South Asia Judicial Roundtable on Environmental Justice” Asian Development Bank, November 2016
• “Proceedings of the Third South Asia Judicial Roundtable on Environmental Justice for Sustainable Green Development” Asian Development Bank, August 2015
• “Proceedings of the Second South Asia Judicial Roundtable on Environmental Justice” Asian Development Bank, 3 February 2015
• “Surveying a Mine Field: An Analysis of Emerging International Trends and Developments for the Improvement of the Mining Legal Framework in the Philippines”
• Southeast Asia Human Rights Studies Network 3rd International Conference on Human Rights and Peace and Conflict in Southeast Asia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 15 October 2014
• “Citizen’s Handbook on Environmental Justice” UNDP/Philippine Supreme Court, September 2013
• “Legal Responses to the Environmental Impacts of Mining” Philippine Law Journal, Volume 86, December 2012 Co-authored with Dean Antonio G.M. La Viña and Atty. Alaya de Leon
• “Taking Another Green Step Forward: An Analysis of the Rules of Procedure for Environmental Cases” Ateneo Law Journal, Volume 56 Number 3, December 2011
• “A Critique of the Philippine Environmental Impact Statement System in Light of Recent Developments in International Environmental Law” Ateneo School of Law Juris Doctor Thesis, 2010
• “The Continuing Walk for Land, Walk for Justice: The CARP Extension Issues”
  The Ateneo Human Rights Center Monitress student interns publication, 2nd Semester, S.Y. 2008-2009 The CARP Extension issue in the Philippines in relation to continuing efforts in land reform
• “Walk for Land, Walk for Justice: Lakaw Sumilao and the Ateneo Community” Loyola Schools Bulletin, Vol. III No. 4, December 2007-January 2008
• Role of the Ateneo Community, in particular the law school, in the advocacy of the Sumilao Farmers