Bird & Bird LLP’s approach to ESG spans across regulatory, product compliance, environmental and supply chain as well as finance, commercial and procurement expertise, with the firm’s frequent work with disruptive digital technologies and business models regarded as opportunity for change and innovation. Its consultancy arm, OXYGY, additionally provides clients with multidisciplinary advice on how to ESG-proof their businesses for the future.

Elizabeth Reid co-lead’s the international renewables group and is part of a team advising Canadian Solar on multiple solar developments in the UK, including acquisitions of projects of up to 1.4 GW capacity. A corporate and tax team is assisting 4RD with the development and launch of a new platform which aims to increase access to the carbon market for small climate positive projects in Africa. In support of the promotion of electric vehicles, the firm is also advising the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile on the drafting of Formula E regulation.

In another highlight, a team acted for Macquarie Group on its involvement in the $62.5m series C financing of Storegga which aims to support carbon capture and hydrogen projects in Norway, the UK, and US. One project targets the decarbonisation of the whisky distillation process in Scotland through green hydrogen. The firm’s engagement in the growing hydrogen space is also evident via its thought leadership on the matter; the firm recently published its International Green Hydrogen Report 2022.

A UN Global Compact and SBTi signatory, the firm organises its firm-wide sustainability commitments and targets through its global sustainability policy and measures its own sustainability performance using the EcoVadis standard. It also participates in various external collaborations focusing on climate action, such as designing a procurement process for C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and, on a pro bono basis, contributing to the drafting of contract clauses for The Chancery Lane Project’s Climate Contract Playbook.