At Linklaters LLP, Gilly Hutchinson, who was a former senior policy advisor in the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change and has extensive experience advising on energy and infrastructure projects, was appointed head of ESG Regional Development in Asia in 2021.

The Hong Kong and Singapore teams have a strong track record in green and sustainable finance; together they advised CK Hutchison on its inaugural issuance of $500m green bonds. Another area of focus is the financing of renewable projects: With their expertise in the emerging offshore wind market, Hong Kong-based James McLaren and Ying Fu, and counsel Xylia Sim in Singapore advised a consortium of financial institutions on the 605MW southeast Greater Changhua offshore wind project’s $3bn financing. Fu and Sim also sit on the firm’s Asia ESG Steering Committee.

The Singapore and Bangkok teams have additional experience in sustainable Islamic finance, having advised the Malaysian government on its $800m issuance of the world’s first sovereign sustainability sukuk. Bangkok managing partner and project finance expert Wanwisar Nakarat is assisting Bangkok Bank with its $287m loan to Super Energy Corporation to develop its 550MW Vietnamese solar project portfolio. The Bangkok team also provided pro bono advice to LightBlue Environmental Consultants working on Thai food waste and to the Legal Response Initiative at COP summits and the UNFCCC.

In order to upskill its lawyers, the firm partners with the University of Oxford to deliver its ESG Accelerator programme. Its thought leadership publications include ESG Legal Outlook and the Sustainable Futures blog; Hutchinson is a key contributor.

The firm’s internal targets to reduce Scope 1 & 2 emissions by 70% and Scope 3 emissions by 50% by 2030 are SBTi-approved, its Global Environment Programme is ISO14001:2015 certified, and it has an A- CDP Climate Change score. The Hong Kong and Singapore offices are BEAM Plus Platinum and BCA Green Mark Gold Plus certified respectively.