Dentons recently appointed its first Global Head of ESG, London-based Aragon St Charles. St Charles collaborates with the global board on the design and implementation of firm-wide ESG strategy. Alongside him, Claire England joined the firm as head of responsible business to focus on the local implementation of ESG commitments.

The firm’s work is at the centre of growing green industries in the UK and beyond. It is acting as counsel for Pale Blue Dot, Shell, Habour Energy, and NSMP regarding all aspects of the £4bn project development of the Acorn Carbon Capture and Storage project in Scotland. A team of energy and environment law experts also provided ESG advice to Britishvolt in connection with the development of a portfolio of gigafactories for the manufacturing of lithium ion batteries for electric vehicles.

In the renewables space, the firm assisted Xlinks with the development of a 10GW onshore wind project in Morocco. This is to be supported by a 25GW battery storage project connected to the UK by the world’s longest subsea HVDC cable. Once complete it will transport clean energy directly from Morocco to the UK.

A notable internal initiative is the firm’s Global Smart Cities and Connected Communities think tank comprised of 700 thought leaders from around the world focusing on  technological solutions to environmental challenges. The firm’s efforts to reduce its own impact on the environment are manifest in its CarbonNeutral certification in the UK (and Middle East) region which has been awarded by Natural Capital Partners since 2018.