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  1. Our capabilities
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ESG risk and advisory
As sustainability issues are increasingly central to business, you need strategies and governance arrangements with solid legal foundations. As legal risks and regulatory demands grow, so do opportunities to lever solutions toward sustainability-driven transformation, through innovative deals and projects.
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A sophisticated, global, full-service team of experts to help you navigate sustainability goals and risks.

Legal issues in sustainability are developing at pace, raising simultaneously the demands of disclosure schemes, scrutiny on investment decisions, stakeholder activity, governance standards and corporate behaviour (both internally and across value chains). Litigation and regulatory risks continue to evolve and grow in severity. 

We are acutely aware of the challenges this dynamic presents to our clients in an increasingly complex geopolitical and economic environment. By drawing on our deep experience across practices and jurisdictions, we have adapted our long-established, market leading legal services into a strategic toolbox to support our clients. 

Our sustainability and environmental practice helps clients to both manage the risks of the most significant issues relevant to their businesses, and to navigate the opportunities of the transition. With dedicated specialists, and access to the firm’s broader full-service offering, we provide market-leading support across all key areas:

  • Governance advice to meet growing demands from investors on strategic transformation, broader risk management, board composition, shareholder activism and more
  • Policy and regulatory change monitoring, public affairs and advocacy, with counselling support to translate new obligations into your target setting, strategy and practical implementation and compliance programmes
  • Disclosure and reporting support, through our in-depth, live understanding of evolving requirements through work with dozens of the world’s largest organisations on TCFD, CSRD, ISSB, California climate disclosure rules and beyond
  • Supply chain risk management and resilience
  • Sustainability and environmental litigation defence and crisis response, alongside advising on approaches to managing liability, and minimising legal risk
  • Green collaboration and the development of arrangements to pursue sustainability goals in compliance with antitrust law
  • Sustainable finance arrangements, products and compliance, and supporting access to capital markets in connection with sustainability objectives
  • Transformational M&A aimed at sustainability goals, alongside the management of sustainability issues and EHS liabilities in mainstream M&A, from human rights and climate change to pollution, natural capital and governance
  • Development of transition projects, supporting decarbonisation and improved sustainability performance across the energy, infrastructure and industrial sectors and beyond

Our sustainability practice is prolific, with active mandates advising a myriad of clients across the globe and experts spread across the EU, UK, US and Asia. Our team works together routinely, sharing best practice, insider knowledge and lessons learned as approaches to new sustainability frameworks and issues develop. With our global footprint, depth of regional expertise, public affairs capabilities and collaborative culture, we are uniquely positioned to meet your needs.

Related capabilities
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Energy transition
Human rights and supply chain
People and social issues
Sustainability and tax
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Highlight experience
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Disclosure and reporting

We are advising a vast array of corporates and financial institutions on disclosure obligations, across a range of sectors and with different sustainability footprints. In particular, we have been advising clients on the full spectrum of CSRD and the strategic direction that global reporting may take. This involves a broad range of support, including assessing applicability across corporate structures, working through the intricacies of topical standards and mapping data to disclosure requirements.

We support the management of risks relating to greenwashing and other misleading statements as well as the challenges posed by EU regulatory reforms and anti-ESG sidewinds.

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Contacts

Contacts

Meet the team
Düsseldorf
Juliane HilfPartner
London
Douglas BrydenPartner
London
Vanessa JakovichPartner
London
Simon DuncombePartner
London
Cat Greenwood-SmithPartner
San Francisco
Sam HoushowerCounsel
New York, Berlin
Marlen Vesper-GräskeCounsel
Meet the team
Awards & Recognition
JUVE
Band 1 ESG
Chambers
Band 1 ESG Risk
Our thinking

Our thinking

View all blogs
Jun 25 2025
UK progresses long-awaited updates to rules on sustainability reporting, assurance and climate transition plans
Following a long hiatus since the announcement at COP26 in Glasgow in late 2021, the UK has commenced formal processes toward the...
Jun 25 2025
CSRD and CSDDD at a Crossroads: The Council’s Push for Revisions
The Council of the European Union has reached a highly anticipated agreement on the content part of the sustainability-related Omnibus...
Jun 19 2025
FRC launches new UK Stewardship Code 2026
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) describes the updates to the Code as “evolutionary and not revolutionary”. The focus is on a move...
Jun 11 2025
Inside Infrastructure: The latest from Germany
  As Germany’s new government settles into its role, the country’s energy and infrastructure sectors are undergoing transformative...
May 28 2025
The PRA’s updated supervisory expectations for managing climate-related risks: what this means for banks and insurers
For a long time, both the PRA and FCA have recognised that climate change is a potential material financial risk to regulated firms. On...
May 19 2025
The Next Regulatory Layer for ESG Rating Providers: ESMA Consults on Draft RTS
Building on our earlier analysis of the ESG Rating Regulation (February 2024), we now turn to its implementation phase: The European...
Apr 15 2025
The Austrian Financial Market Authority’s new Guide on Managing Sustainability Risks
On 31 March 2025, the Austrian Financial Market Authority published its fundamentally revised Guide on “Managing Sustainability...
Apr 3 2025
EU officially delays CSRD and CSDDD
Today (3 April 2025), the European Parliament adopted the Omnibus Stop-the-Clock proposal (STC) for the CSRD and CSDDD. As discussed in...
Mar 21 2025
Have Your Say: Shaping the Future of “Green State Aid”
On 11 March, the European Commission launched a public consultation on its draft State aid Framework accompanying the Clean Industrial...
Mar 14 2025
Foundations for the future of decarbonisation and competitiveness in Europe? A look at the Clean Industrial Deal
Introduction On 26 February, the European Commission (EC) published its Clean Industrial Deal (CID), which is expected to be this term’s...
Mar 3 2025
Understanding the UAE’s new National Register of Carbon Credits
In June 2024, the UAE introduced Cabinet Resolution No. 67 of 2024 (the Resolution), establishing the National Register of Carbon Credits...
Feb 27 2025
All change please! Omnibus re-routes CSRD, CSDDD, Taxonomy and CBAM
The European Commission (EC) has published its highly anticipated sustainability-related Omnibus simplification package (Omnibus...
Feb 25 2025
The FCA reports on climate change adaptation challenges for UK financial services firms
The FCA identifies climate adaptation challenges for financial services firms Every five years, the UK government produces an assessment...
Feb 24 2025
Managing ESG risks in an evolving regulatory landscape: What the new EBA Guidelines mean for banks in light of the EU’s Omnibus proposal
While the European Union (EU) awaits the European Commission’s detailed proposals on the EU Omnibus proposal with revisions to the...
Feb 20 2025
State Attorneys General Enter the DEI Fray
In the wake of President Trump’s sweeping executive orders targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and the...
Feb 12 2025
Between two worlds: How US and EU-companies can navigate the tensions between shifting US DEI priorities and the EU sustainability framework
Within the first week of taking office, President Trump issued Executive Orders regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)...
Feb 3 2025
European Forced Labour Regulation entered into force – what should businesses expect?
On 13 December 2024, the European Forced Labour Regulation (EUFLR, the Regulation) entered into force. The EUFLR prohibits the import and...
View all blogs
Related capabilities
Biodiversity and deforestationEnergy transitionHuman rights and supply chainPeople and social issuesSustainability and taxSustainability regulatory developmentsSustainability reporting and disclosureSustainability-related disputes and litigationSustainability-related governanceSustainable competition and collaborationSustainable finance and investmentSustainable transactions
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