An energy sector expert and co-head of Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP’s EMEA PPA practice, Simon Davies is a leading authority on high-value and complex transactions in the renewables space. An expert on route-to-market strategies, Davies regularly assists in the negotiation of clean power supply and green gas procurement agreements.
In a landmark mandate, Davies acted for renewables power platform Brookfield in negotiating and drafting PPAs to deliver clean power to Microsoft across Europe. The mandate facilitates the development of additional wind and solar power capacity and is a key example of how corporate decarbonisation strategies and large-scale PPAs can support the growth of the clean energy sector.
As a member of its internal sustainability and ESG team, Davies assists in the firm’s green power procurement. Davies also plays a key role in the firm’s thought leadership output, including leading webinars on green power procurement and publishing articles on topics including grid connection issues.
Leveraging a wealth of experience in complex cross-border disputes and investigations, Jean-Pierre Douglas-Henry at DLA Piper stands out for his knowledge of environmental and social risk and climate litigation strategies. Alongside leading the firm’s client-facing sustainability and ESG offering, Douglas-Henry guides its internal sustainability and responsible business engagement.
As part of his engagement as managing director of sustainability, Douglas-Henry has overseen the firm’s international representation of Georgina, Madagascar, and Mauritius in the Blue Zone at the climate COPs since 2023 and its representation of Madagascar at the biodiversity COP since 2024. Internally, Douglas-Henry sponsored the firm’s commitment to the Science-Based Targets initiative and was executive sponsor for its landmark power purchase agreement with NextEnergy.
Douglas-Henry plays an active role in promoting sustainability and climate best practice within the legal sector, sitting on the steering committee of the Net Zero Lawyers Alliance and representing the firm in the Charter 1.5 Working Group and the Sustainable Markets Initiative’s legal taskforce.
Bringing longstanding planning and environmental law expertise, Kee Evans at Foot Anstey assists clients across a diversity of energy and infrastructure sector mandates. Alongside a specialism in the consenting of renewable energy projects, Evans regularly assists in contaminated land issues and the allocation of environmental liability.
In the renewable energy space, a key client is Future Energy Llanwern, whom Evans is assisting in the consenting of a 400 MW solar farm. The mandate supports the client in securing the applications necessary to significantly augment Wales’ clean energy capacity.
A committed thought leader, Evans regularly partners with The Chancery Lane Project to help boost green best practice in the legal sector, including hosting a webinar which reflected on COP29 and how lawyers can use sustainability-focused clauses to help clients achieve their climate ambitions. Evans also serves as a strategy group member of clean energy industry association RenewableUK Cymru.
Heading the renewable energy team and chairing the net zero service at Burges Salmon LLP, Ross Fairley is a key port of call for energy developers and operators, investors, and public sector clients on innovative and pathfinding projects and schemes.
Fairley is currently playing a key role in the growth of the UK’s green hydrogen sector. Acting for Wales and West Utilities, Fairley is providing regulatory advice and assisting in devising model contracts for the transport and usage of its 130km Hyline Cymru hydrogen pipeline, which will help provide a route-to-market for 4.5 GW of offshore wind in the Celtic Sea and deliver clean power to decarbonise industry in South Wales.
Owing to his longstanding expertise and leadership in the clean power space, Fairley chairs Renewable UK’s strategy forum. Fairley also helps spearhead the firm’s green energy thought leadership, where he hosts podcasts and videos into topics including asset repowering and renewables project lifecycles.
Co-heading Travers Smith LLP’s ESG and impact group, Heather Gagen is a key contact on novel and critical contentious climate and sustainability mandates. Building off her broad commercial litigation practice, Gagen brings leading experience on large-scale tort and parent company liability claims, reputationally significant disputes and investigations, and corporate risk management matters.
In a business-critical mandate, Gagen acted for agriculture corporate group Camellia in proceedings invoking parent company liability regarding alleged human rights abuses within its subsidiaries’ operations in Kenya and Malawi. The matter is crucial in establishing precedent for how companies should manage ESG risk throughout their value chains.
As part of the development and delivery team of the firm’s sustainability insights academy, Gagen supports the ESG training provided to the firm’s legal and business services teams. Gagen also extends her leadership within the legal community, participating in panel and podcast discussions on topics including ESG litigation.
A key contact among major multinational clients across a diversity array of green matters, Matthew Germain helms Osborne Clarke LLP’s environment and sustainability practice and leads the net zero function within the firm’s decarbonisation team.
Complementing his expertise on environmental matters including contamination, biodiversity, and environmental credits, Germain also acts for leading corporates in navigating sustainability due diligence issues, ESG supply chain risk, climate reporting requirements, and green labels and claims. Germain is also a notable thought leader on topics including voluntary and regulated carbon markets.
Committed to boosting sustainability within the firm, Germain serves as the chair of its sustainability steering group and guides internal efforts to mitigate adverse carbon impacts and operate as an environmentally sustainable business. Within his role in leading the firm’s sustainability steering group, Germain is working to roll-out carbon literacy training to upskill all employees on how to tackle the climate crisis.
Combining longstanding experience in the derivatives and structured products space with a strong commitment to ESG, impact, and DE&I, Jonathan Gilmour at Travers Smith LLP is a key contact among corporates and finance providers on innovative mandates.
In the renewables sector, Gilmour assisted Bagnall Energy in establishing an FX hedging arrangement with Santander in order to hedge dividends and asset value within the acquisition of a wind farm in Finland. The matter is a key example of how innovative financial packages can promote the growth of the clean energy space.
Boosting green legal best practice, Gilmour serves as a member of the UK regional board of the Global Alliance of Impact Lawyers, through which he contributed to a report on blended finance. Gilmour is also a member of organisations including the governance committee of the UK Voluntary Carbon Market Forum, the industry development committee of UK Sustainable Investment & Finance, and the International Securities and Derivatives Association ESG working group.
Serving as chair of Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP’s global ESG leadership team, Silke Goldberg has a wealth of experience advising international clients on emerging and pressing energy law and regulation. Building upon her expertise in the low-carbon energy space, Goldberg brings deep knowhow regarding climate change strategies and reporting requirements and carbon market developments.
Supporting the reliable delivery of clean power to the UK grid, Goldberg advised Transmission Capital Partners on its successful bids for the East Anglia One and Moray East offshore transmission cables. A further key client is the Net Zero Lawyers Alliance, whom Goldberg assisted in developing an investment toolkit to help African countries unlock adaptation and mitigation projects.
Through Legal Response International, Goldberg regularly provides pro bono advice to developing nation governments on climate change strategies and governance. Goldberg is also a notable academic thought leader on topics including climate law, ESG disclosures, and offshore power regulation.
Possessing deep expertise regarding green and sustainability projects within the public and regulated sectors, Sharpe Pritchard LLP’s head of net zero Steve Gummer is a key contact on regulatory and development mandates.
For key client Ofgem, Gummer advised on revenue arrangements, regulatory protections, and monopoly and competition matters for its first-of-a-kind project licence for carbon capture, transport, and storage. The mandate was crucial in facilitating the adoption of the new licence and plays a key role in the delivery of the Northern Endurance Partnership and Net Zero Teesside Power projects.
Complementing his thought leadership regarding sustainability and environmental issues in the water sector, Gummer regularly authors articles into topics across the energy and low-carbon transition. Gummer’s recent insights include explorations into heat network frameworks, long-duration energy storage regulation, and the UK’s carbon and nature markets.
Andreas Gunst brings longstanding experience regarding green and low-carbon project development and commercialisation to his role as co-chair of DLA Piper’s global climate transition group.
A key client is Arcadia eFuels, whom Gunst is advising on the design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of a project in Denmark which utilises green hydrogen and carbon dioxide to create carbon-neutral sustainable aviation fuel. Further demonstrating his regulatory expertise in the green fuels space, Gunst assisted Central European Gas Hub in the establishment, development, and promotion of its GreenGas platform, helping facilitate the national and international trade in biogas certificates.
Gunst is a leading voice in key industry associations across a diversity of energy transition and low carbon technologies, including serving as a board member of the Carbon Markets and Investors Association; as chair of the drafting contract standardisation committee of the Hydrogen Council; and as chair of renewable energy trading and certification organisation RECS International.
As ESG lead at TLT, Alexandra Holsgrove-Jones focuses on integrating sustainability within the firm’s legal services, working to ensure cross-practice helps clients anticipate and navigate emerging sustainability developments.
A core area of focus is the realisation of net-zero emissions in the built environment, with Holsgrove-Jones leading training for major domestic clients on integrating ESG clauses within their leases. Leveraging this expertise, Holsgrove-Jones sits on The Chancery Lane Project’s (TCLP) advisory committee for the built environment and its priority drafting working group, and elsewhere led a team in developing a TCLP toolkit to navigate climate-aligned drafting in the property industry.
Committed to boosting the firm’s internal sustainability profile, Holsgrove-Jones set up a TCLP-aligned working group to promote sustainable drafting in the firm’s legal solutions. Holsgrove-Jones was also responsible for formalising the firm’s ESG credentials, establishing an internal programme, operational structure, and information-sharing hub to best integrate and communicate ESG internally.
Laura Houët, co-head of ESG at CMS, brings longstanding experience regarding sustainable investment strategies, ESG regulation and reporting requirements, and climate transition plan preparation.
Leveraging her longstanding expertise in the funds space, Houët advises asset and wealth managers on the application of the FCA’s SDR regime, including compliance with its fund name labelling and anti-greenwashing rules. A further key focus is corporate ESG advisory, wherein Houët assists real estate and manufacturing clients in scoping and navigating EU Taxonomy, CSRD, and CSDDD obligations.
Houët is a key voice on the green transition in the financial services space, sitting on the Financial Markets Law Committee’s ESG scoping forum and the Association for Finance Markets in Europe’s sustainable finance working group. Houët also lectures at Imperial College London’s Centre for Climate Finance & Investment and elsewhere delivers external teaching modules on the EU Taxonomy, ESRS, SFDR and CSRD.
David Hunter at Bates Wells is a leading authority on supporting businesses address climate change and biodiversity loss through their corporate operations, governance structures, and contractual relationships. Alongside helping clients deliver on ESG within shareholder agreements, Hunter places a particular emphasis on bringing nature into boardroom considerations.
A key client is the Knepp Wildland Foundaiton, which is working to restore the ecosystem of the River Adur in Sussex. Within the mandate, Hunter advised on land, financial and funding, and governance matters, helping create a legal solution which supports water quality, flood alleviation, and biodiversity.
A leading voice within the legal sector’s green transition, Hunter has served as a member of The Law Society Climate Change Working Group since 2020 and co-founded the Legal Charter 1.5 network. As a member of the UN Race to Zero Serviced Emissions working group, Hunter co-authored guidance on how the sector can reduce its advised emissions.
As lead ESG regulatory partner and co-head of sustainable finance and investment at Hogan Lovells International LLP, Rita Hunter is highly sought-after among major global corporates, asset managers, private equity players, and financial institutions in navigating the UK and EU sustainability regulatory suites.
A key area of focus is compliance with the requirements of the UK and EU sustainability regimes, including the CSRD and European Sustainability Reporting Standards. Within her advice, Hunter helps devise disclosures and statements which meet regulatory obligations and mitigate risk.
Demonstrating her commitment to setting best practice in the sustainable finance space, Hunter is a member of the City of London IRSG ESG Committee. Offering further insight within the business community, Hunter is a regular speaker on green transition matters, participating in conference panels on topics including sustainability disclosures, ESG regulatory change, and clean energy sector issues.
Valentina Keys at Watson Farley & Williams LLP is an expert advisor to the maritime sector on a breadth of sustainability matters including regulatory reporting, decarbonisation initiatives, emissions trading schemes, and greenwashing risk.
Keys is assisting a host of shipping sector clients, including Norwegian Cruise Lines, on registration under maritime EU ETS rules. Keys also provides advice to financiers including ING, helping navigate the impact of the FuelEU Maritime and the EU ETS regulations on liability exposure and existing financing arrangements.
A regular speaker at conferences and panels on sustainability matters, Keys participates in industry discussions on topics including decarbonisation, alternative fuels, and EU ESG regulation. Keys is also an academic thought leader on green topics, delivering an annual lecture at the Liberal Club on developments within environmental and climate change law.
International head of sustainability and ESG at DLA Piper, Natasha Luther-Jones brings longstanding expertise on transactions in the energy and natural resources sector and is a key advisor on corporate power purchase agreements.
In the PPA space, Luther-Jones is assisting H&M Group in negotiations for the offtake of clean electricity to power its operations across Poland, Spain, and Sweden. The mandate is crucial in providing the client a long-term supply of energy to match its consumption in key markets and reduce its operational carbon footprint. Luther-Jones is also highly sought-after among leading developers and operators in the solar power space, including Elgin Energy and BayWa, for advice on large-scale transactions.
Leveraging the experience gained from her engagement on landmark and high-value agreements and transactions, Luther-Jones is a regular speaker on PPAs, energy asset investments, and emissions reduction strategies. Luther-Jones is also a regular host of the firm’s climate transition podcast series.
Building off her longstanding chemistry sector expertise, Eleanor Maciver at Mewburn Ellis LLP works at the forefront of IP mandates impacting the future of sustainable chemical and material inventions.
Bringing deep knowhow regarding innovative sustainable polymers, nature-based materials, plant-based foods, and energy transition technologies, Maciver is a key partner to deeptech and cleantech companies. Key clients include sustainable food company Ecovative, whom Maciver assists on all European patent and licensing matters, and plant-based pigments spin-out Sparxell, whom Maciver advises on its IP strategy.
As the firm’s sustainability champion, Maciver leads its internal environmental strategy and sustainability collaboration group. Within this leadership, Maciver coordinates the firm’s engagement with EcoVadis, the Science Based Targets initiative, and the CDP climate change questionnaire. Helping boost sustainability within the cleantech sector, Maciver provides IP advice to the Undaunted climate innovation community and the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Change Makers programme, which seeks to leverage deeptech solutions to power sustainable change.
Caroline May brings longstanding environmental law expertise to her role as Norton Rose Fulbright’s EMEA ESG practice co-head. May complements her experience in toxic tort, pollution incidents, and remediation with a growing practice surrounding sustainability and ESG reporting and environmental and climate harm.
In an ongoing mandate, May is acting for major global logistics provider DP World on the £1.5bn redevelopment of its London Gateway project. Supporting the project’s large-scale remediation and ecology programme, May assisted on permitting, consenting, environmental liability, and remediation matters.
Helping inspire green best practice and awareness within the legal sector, May chairs the Law Society working group on climate change and is co-chair of the Legal Sustainability Alliance. Equally a key voice on ESG matters within the business community, May serves as a non-executive director of NGO the Aldersgate Group, which unites business, political, and civil society leaders to help champion an environmentally sustainable economy.
Harriet Murray Jones at Bevan Brittan LLP acts for leading investors and developers on the property aspects across the full renewable asset lifecycle. Murray Jones also serves on the firm’s ESG steering group, through which she helps businesses deliver on their ESG strategies, embed sustainability into their operations and supply chains, and meet regulatory and disclosure requirements.
In a high-value mandate, Murray Jones is acting for renewables developer Boom Power on the property and financing aspects of its 400 MW East Yorkshire solar farm and 237 MW Fenwick solar farm. With both assets falling under the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects programme, her planning and commercial real estate expertise is critical in enabling the growth of the UK’s renewable power capacity.
A keen thought leader in the space, Murray Jones regularly authors article and leads webinars on topics including grid reform, decarbonisation, and how the legal sector can utilise climate clauses.
A finance specialist focused on ESG principles and sustainable development in emerging markets, Marc Naidoo at Howard Kennedy LLP acts for major lenders in structuring financial solutions which support green projects.
Complementing his longstanding expertise regarding sustainable agriculture and marine projects, Naidoo advises major corporates and development banks on energy and carbon transition projects including renewable power generation facilities and carbon credit platforms.
Naidoo is actively involved in promoting sustainability within civil society. As an advisor to the United Nations’ Ocean Protocol, Naidoo helps inform policy recommendations and financial mechanisms which support the protection of marine ecosystems and promote responsible investments in the blue economy. Naidoo also assists the Commonwealth on green topics including climate finance, sustainability and ESG regulations, and responsible investment policies, helping scale-up sustainable economic solutions across its member states.
