James Watson
Osborne Clarke
At Osborne Clarke, James Watson serves as head of decarbonisation, leading an international team in assisting clients across ESG law and net zero strategies to help create a technology-driven, sustainable, and decarbonised economy. Bringing clients over 20 years’ experience in renewable energy transactions, he is a longstanding advisor to investors, funds, banks, and developers on development, transactional, and finance mandates in the renewable energy, battery storage, hydrogen, bio-energy, and cleantech spaces.
Also serving as international co-head of ESG, Watson helps clients shape and implement their ESG strategies, advising on horizon scanning, reporting obligations, and risk management. He complements this by conducting training sessions for legal and business teams on topics including greenwashing and product labelling, sustainability due diligence, and the voluntary carbon markets.
Supporting the firm’s thought leadership output in this space, Watson takes a leading position within the firm’s ESG Knowledge Update series and was a key speaker in its Decarbonisation Week webinar programme, which provided expert overviews concerning sustainable innovation, climate finance, and greenwashing risk.