Green Ambassadors: Asia Pacific

At A&O Shearman, longstanding energy, resources, and projects specialist Goran Galic has acted on landmark hydrogen and carbon capture and storage projects across Australia and the Asia Pacific region. Alongside serving as an active member of the firm’s sustainability board, Galic leads its advice regionwide on hydrogen and CCS mandates. Complementing his expertise on emerging green technologies, he is a key advisor on environmental processes, green regulation, and sustainability best practice concerning energy projects.

He is also an active contributor to the firm’s national, regional, and global thought leadership offering, assisting on inquiries into Australia’s mandatory climate-related financial disclosure regime, authoring insights on topics including the breadth of Asia’s renewable energy future, and contributing to global reports including how businesses can create resilient transition plans.

Galic is regularly called upon by leading industry bodies to present his insights into the energy transition, having spoken on topics including how to manage ESG and sustainability risks to kickstart the green hydrogen economy and the best practices available to de-risk the CCS value chain and encourage investment across Australia and Southeast Asia.

In Australia, Nadia Kalic makes a key contribution to Clifford Chance’s holistic sustainability strategy in its efforts to lead on impactful green client work and leave a positive environmental impact from its operations, serving as a member of its global ESG board and global responsible business board and chairing its APAC ESG board. An M&A and projects specialist, Kalic acts for ambitious renewable energy developers and major investors such as Blackrock on high-value and large-scale investment and development matters across wind, solar, and battery power technologies.

Kalic is a key thought leader on the green transition, regularly authoring the firm’s briefings on Australia’s low-carbon and renewable energy journey while also contributing to blog articles on emerging sustainability topics including local and regional greenwashing developments.

Helping leave a positive green impact in the legal community, Kalic is a board member of the Energy and Resources Law Association, which focuses on promoting best practice, innovation, and collaboration regarding energy, resources, and renewables law.

As Australian head of renewables at DLA Piper, Chris Mitchell is an indispensable advisor to local and international clients on market-leading M&A deals and investments in the clean energy and sustainability sectors. With key recent clients including investors (BlackRock), energy companies (Tenaga Nasional Berhad), and power developers (BlueFloat Energy), Mitchell is not only a key advisor on renewable energy acquisitions and investments in the region, but also a leading partner to developers on financial and transactional mandates.

He bolsters his client work with a leading thought leadership contribution, co-authoring articles on diverse topics including offshore wind planning and policy, renewable energy tax proposals, and public net zero investment streams.

Attesting to his renown within the sector, Mitchell regularly participates in industry discussions on the future of Australia’s renewable energy sector. At the Offshore Wind Conference Australia, he spoke on impending regulatory challenges in the country’s renewable energy strategy, leveraging his insight into Australia’s offshore regulatory regime and how its impacts compare with the global context.

As head of ESG, Claire Rogers drives King & Wood Mallesons’ client engagement and thought leadership on climate change issues, guides legal training and capacity building on sustainability issues, and advises the board on the progress made toward its net zero targets and objectives.

In also serving as head of project finance at the firm, she provides clients a leading perspective on the structuring and financing of green infrastructure and renewable energy projects. Her clients include major domestic lenders like ANZ and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

As part of her commitment to sustainability thought leadership, Rogers is a major voice on topics including carbon farming, nature-positive reforms, and climate and sustainability reporting requirements. She also leads the firm’s presentations and discussions which support clients in navigating the evolving ESG landscape and maximising their climate and social impact, providing her insight into pertinent trends, issues, and regulatory reforms. Further boosting the firm’s engagement surrounding emerging sustainability issues, Rogers leads roundtable sessions which support clients in the superfund sector best interact with ESG developments.

Pollination Law founder and CEO Martijn Wilder brings over twenty years’ experience in Australian and global climate law, serving as an expert voice on legal, policy, and financing mechanisms which support climate change mitigation, biodiversity and conservation, emissions trading, and the net zero transition. He is assisting the government of Timor-Leste regarding its national framework climate change law and advising the government of Fiji on the operationalisation of carbon markets within its climate change act.

Wilder is a key partner to sustainability-focused industry bodies, serving as chair and governing board member of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership, which works to accelerate and catalyse the deployment of clean energy solutions, and as a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, which provides advice to preserve Australia’s land, water, and biodiversity.

Supporting the development of sustainability knowledge in the legal and business communities, Wilder is an adjunct professor of international climate change law at the Australian National University and speaks at the Macquarie Business School session on climate change and the steps necessary to finance Australia’s green energy transition.

Pollination Law managing director Sarah Barker brings a leading track-record on sustainability-related corporate and investment governance issues, assisting corporates, investors, and government agencies in managing the ESG risks and climate-related exposures which emerge under corporate and securities law.

Leading the firm’s climate and sustainability risk governance team, Barker counts among her clients multiple ASX20 companies and major multinational banking and corporate clients. Barker’s team is trusted by leading sustainability-aligned clients on transformative matters, having advised United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative banking members on climate-related governance issues and having been appointed by the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures to advise on its flagship framework regarding the corporate assessment and disclosure of nature-related impacts.

In her role as teacher of the directors’ course at the Cambridge University Institute for Sustainability Leadership, Barker provides leading corporates with valuable insights into corporate governance matters across Singapore, Malaysia, and New Zealand. Helping shape the global discourse on climate governance strategies, she represents Australia in the Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative and serves as co-chair of the World Economic Forum’s Climate Governance Community of Experts.

Serving as head of ESG regional development for Linklaters, Gilly Hutchinson coordinates the firm’s advice across Asia on clean energy, sustainable finance, and ESG mandates. Complementing her expertise in advising lenders and sponsors on renewable energy project financings and green and sustainability-linked loans, she regularly leads client training on ESG matters in Hong Kong.

Hutchinson is trusted by leading sustainability and ESG trade associations and working groups in their efforts to promote the green transition. As part of the firm’s membership to the Hong Kong Green Finance Association, she is active in the association’s working groups and served as a panellist on its biodiversity webinar series. She also sits on the Asia Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association’s ESG and sustainable finance working groups and the Private Wealth Management Association’s ESG committee.

Contributing to efforts to integrate environmental sustainability into office strategy and raise awareness of how staff and clients can help combat climate impacts, Hutchinson leads the firm’s Hong Kong environment committee. She also makes a regular thought leadership commitment, including co-authoring an insight into the Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s climate-related disclosure requirements.

At Linklaters, Asia ESG steering committee member and structured finance and derivatives team member Karen Lam is a leading authority on green and sustainable structured finance transactions. Supporting key industry players in understanding how to most effectively create value through emerging green finance opportunities, she regularly provides clients across Greater China with training on topics including sustainability-linked derivatives and carbon trading.

Helping leverage the experience gained in client work, Lam is a member of the Financial Services Development Council’s carbon market working group, which advises the Hong Kong SAR government on best practices in the carbon trading space.

Demonstrating her key voice in the business community, she is also a member of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, International Emissions Trading Association, and Asia Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association working groups on sustainable finance and the carbon markets.

Building off his traditional expertise in maritime arbitration, Andrew Rigden Green has developed his practice to become a key advisor at Stephenson Harwood on emissions and energy trading developments impacting the marine and shipping sector. He is a key contact regarding the transition of marine fuels, serving on advisory panels for the Hong Kong SAR government and Hong Kong University of Science & Technology.

Rigden Green is also a leading voice within industry groups, serving as a member of the Hong Kong Green Finance Association working group on the city’s future as a green bunkering hub and sitting on the Comité Maritime International’s global industry working group on green fuels, contracts, and vessels.

Demonstrating the diversity of his expertise within this space, he regularly presents on topics including zero-carbon fuels and vessels, maritime decarbonisation and sustainable finance opportunities, and best practices when arbitrating decarbonisation disputes. He also contributed to Springer Publishing’s book on maritime decarbonisation, in which he joined other notable industry thought leaders to discuss the vital role of contractual frameworks in decarbonising international maritime trade.

Funds practitioner Penelope Shen has taken up a key role across Stephenson Harwood’s holistic sustainability offering, having established the firm’s Asia ESG working group, which hosts quarterly meetings to facilitate sustainability discussions across its regional offices. In client work, she leads in legal advice and training which support major fund managers and industry actors in integrating responsible and sustainable considerations within their practices.

Shen led the firm’s entry into the Hong Kong Green Finance Association, through which she helped create a platform for sustainable development across the region by serving as drafting partner of a policy paper which explores how Hong Kong can become a green infrastructure investment fund hub. Assuming a key role in supporting major industry associations in their green engagements, she also sits as a member of the Alternative Investment Management Association’s working group on the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission’s consultation on climate-related risks and requirements.

Within the legal sector, Shen assists in the firm’s participation in the Hong Kong Chancery Lane Project, helping develop new contracts and model laws which help fight climate change.

A&O Shearman counsel Kok Jin Ong is a leading voice in Singapore on M&A and joint venture transactions within the energy and infrastructure sectors, providing crucial assistance on major energy transition deals. As a trusted advisor to impactful clients in their scaling-up of green businesses, he regularly acts for energy companies on joint ventures and equity raises and for financial institutions on their bids and investments.

Key to Ong’s transactional practice is his comfort across a diversity of energy transition technologies. Major and ongoing clients include leading green fuels player Intercontinental Energy, whom he assists on its equity raises and strategic investments, and clean energy platform ACEN Renewables, which sought his advice on joint venture matters concerning its solar power and battery storage objectives.

Complementing the cross-border nature of his client work, Ong is a notable thought leader on how emerging economies can support their green transition journeys, co-authoring articles on topics including Vietnam’s power development plan and how the Philippines can leverage policy, regulation, foreign investment, and technology upgrades to sustain the pace of reform in its wind power sector.

Singapore-based corporate specialist Timothy Goh spearheads Dechert’s ESG and sustainable finance practice in Asia, assisting private equity, venture capital, start-ups, multinational companies, and development banks on vital sustainable finance matters. He builds his sustainable finance offering around his expertise in green bonds, finance, and funds; climate change; sustainable equity investments; and ESG regulation and compliance.

Goh also takes a leading role within the firm’s sustainability strategy, helping influence its operational decarbonisation policies and decision-making as part of its global ESG steering committee. As a mentor in Temasek Trust’s amplifier programme, he furthermore helps foster innovation by providing support to impact start-ups which help build the green economy.

He makes a vivid thought leadership contribution, authoring insights into emerging green matters including the impact of the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Singapore-Asia Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance. He has led seminars alongside the World Bank Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency on how to protect decarbonisation investments in emerging markets and annually co-authors the Singapore chapter of the Sustainable Finance Law Review.

King & Wood Mallesons’ Singapore founding partner Michael Lawson brings a wealth of experience in the green transition, with a long track-record advising clients on their landmark wind, solar, battery, waste-to-energy, and carbon project developments. He leads the office’s regional engagements with major clients including offshore energy group BW, renewables investment manager SUSI Partners, and carbon marketplace Climate Impact X.

Lawson is a true thought leader across a diversity of green transition trends, offering insights into topics including EV battery supply chains, carbon market regulation, and the key regional political and economic commitments which are driving the decarbonisation of energy systems, transport, land use, and the built environment.

Demonstrating his leading reputation among major industry bodies on climate action, Lawson hosted the firm’s workshop alongside the Carbon Market Institute which explored how market participants can mobilise investor appetite and existing finance to build confidence in the carbon markets.

From Singapore, Xylia Sim brings over 15 years of experience advising on major project financings across Asia Pacific and is a key contact within Linklaters’ regional green energy practice. Demonstrating her vital role within a holistic sustainability client offering, she sits on the firm’s Asia ESG steering committee.

Her focus on the green transition of the energy and infrastructure sectors has made her a leading advisor to major regional export credit agencies and multilateral development banks as they transition their financing portfolios to clean technologies and support the growth of the region’s nascent renewables sector.

Sim is also a notable thought leader on emerging and diverse green focuses across the region, co-authoring insights into topics including the green and transition taxonomy for Singapore-based financial institutions, and the impact of Malaysia’s national energy transition and hydrogen economy roadmaps. Helping boost knowledge on the regulatory peculiarities of Singapore’s transition finance market among global clients, Sim was a key voice on the firm’s panel discussion on how financial markets can facilitate the transition to a sustainable economy.

From Singapore, Morrison Foerster’s Per Lindberg acts on landmark and market-leading sustainable energy and infrastructure projects. He is a leading advisor to investors on energy transition transactions, regularly acting on pathfinding mandates which enable the development of wind, solar, storage, e-methanol and renewable gas projects across Asian and global emerging economies.

Linberg brings vital expertise at the cutting-edge of energy transition technologies and is currently advising on transactions concerning renewable energy certificates, carbon capture and sequestration projects, and conservation and carbon sink financing. As a thought leader in this space, he led a webinar into how the voluntary carbon credit market can support the corporate path to carbon neutrality, speaking alongside industry experts from environmental nonprofit The Nature Conservancy, carbon standards body Verra, and natural investment manager New Forests.

Supporting its regional thought leadership offering, Lindberg contributed to the firm’s Asia Funds ESG Survey, which explored investors’ continued determination to support portfolio companies in creating green value. Elsewhere, he shared insights on how the extra-territorial impact of sustainability regulation is a key driver for green change among portfolio companies.

From Singapore, Lee Weilin heads up Rajah Tann’s sustainability practice group with a long track record advising clients on sustainability-related matters across several industries. She often assists with green financing projects, ESG due diligence, and the creation of carbon credits. Standing out for her experience in the sustainable finance space, she has acted in market-leading matters such as the first sustainability-linked loan in Singapore’s energy sector, and one of the largest bilateral sustainability-linked loans in Singapore’s real estate sector to date.

Weilin is an EFFAS certified ESG analyst. Additionally, she demonstrates her expertise in the sustainability sector by featuring in publications such as Asian Legal Business, where she recently shared her perspective on the impact of ESG in the changing regulatory and legal landscape across Asian jurisdictions.

Joseph Chun heads Shook Lin Bok’s ESG practice and specialises in environmental law, often assisting clients with environmental compliance matters. He also regularly works with local green civil society groups on advocacy projects and reports.

Chun is a professor and a member of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law at the Faculty of Law in the National University of Singapore, where he teaches and researches environmental and ESG law. He has written widely on environmental law and ESG issues and is the lead author of Singapore’s only environmental law textbook.

Demonstrating his leading role as a sustainability champion in the region, Chun serves as a member of the Singapore Venture Capital and Private Equity Association’s ESG and impact committee, the Asia Pacific regional board of the Global Alliance of Impact Lawyers, the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s World Commission on Environmental Law, and the Mandai Wildlife Group’s Animal Welfare and Ethics Committee.

Read more about the Green Ambassadors in each region:

Green Ambassadors: United Kingdom
Green Ambassadors: Latin America
Green Ambassadors: Asia Pacific
Green Ambassadors: United States