Eversheds International

Energy

Clean energy and sustainability:

Mining and natural resources:

Utilities - Water Group:

Key climate change issues

Many new regulations have been and are being introduced to require greenhouse gas emission reductions, to meet governmental commitments at international, EU and national level. These place increased burdens on companies and in many cases are based on novel approaches, such as market mechanisms like emissions trading. However, there can be benefits (such as operating cost savings) for those who operate efficiently and can exploit the carbon market.

How we can help

As part of our larger clean energy and sustainability group, our carbon trading and finance team consists of lawyers drawn from our specialist environmental, financial services and energy teams. We can provide cutting-edge advice in this rapidly developing area of law and policy. We have extensive experience advising on climate change and carbon trading and finance and we can:

advise on the interpretation of emissions trading and carbon reduction commitment rules and regulations, including the overlap between the various schemes, so as to clarify how they apply to specific organisations and sites
advise on the climate change levy and associated rebate agreements
provide support or take the lead in negotiations and discussions with regulators when problems or interpretation issues arise regarding any of these schemes
deal with the adjustments, applications and transfers required to permits and allocations when businesses or sites change hands, start-up or close
advise on projects and credits associated with the clean development mechanism (CDM), and joint implementation projects (JI)
advise on the sale and purchase of carbon credits for voluntary offsetting as well as compliance purposes and prepare and negotiate the relevant contractual documentation
advise on the appointment of carbon consultants/ carbon offsetting companies in relation to carbon footprint management projects
draft and negotiate emissions trading contracts of all kinds including derivatives.