CLIMATE CHANGE & CARBON COUNSELING
Energy & Clean Technology
Our team counsels clients on the ways in which existing and emerging international, regional, and state-level greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations may impact their businesses, and we represent companies and investors creating value within the voluntary and compliance markets for GHG offsets. This practice integrates strategic analysis and advice on energy efficiency, energy and fuel portfolios, and carbon offsetting in the context of carbon constraints and markets, corporate structuring, and project finance. In addition, we provide cutting-edge advice on how corporate directors and officers can assess and report risks and pursue opportunities within the changing regulatory context.
We have deep experience in a variety of transactions involving the monetization of environmental attributes. For example, we have represented a number of companies in connection with the purchase and sale of renewable energy credits (RECs) and have represented solar PPA companies in connection with project portfolio financing involving the monetization of tax attributes in an uncertain regulatory environment. Many of the solutions we have crafted in the context of uncertain tax policy in the U.S. renewables market are being brought to bear in the evolving GHG regulatory landscape.
To maximize our clients' opportunities, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati advocates on their behalf in the development of renewable energy and carbon market rules and incentive programs. We assist our clients in minimizing their risks by providing experienced guidance in compliance with complex and evolving energy, greenhouse gas, and environmental regulations. Our team has particular expertise and focus on the implementation of California's Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32) and related climate regulatory proceedings before the California Public Utilities Commission. Through monitoring ongoing regulatory developments, we are able to provide our clients with strategic legal advice in a rapidly evolving marketplace. The firm's strategic carbon counseling and advertising attorneys also track ongoing developments in the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's regulation of environmental marketing claims as they pertain to carbon offsets.
Our other relevant energy regulatory experience includes the representation of clients before various state public utilities commissions involving renewable energy interconnection and transmission, as well as the shaping of state incentives programs for solar energy. In addition, the firm provides legal counsel and strategy with regard to environmental permitting, project siting, and other related regulatory issues for a variety of clean tech clients, including projects in the biogas, biofuels, concentrating solar, wind, and geothermal sectors.
Representative clients include companies that develop technology solutions for carbon market participants, investors in companies pursuing carbon monetization business models, project financiers of projects that generate carbon offsets, and companies that are seeking strategic advice with respect to carbon regulation as part of corporate or investment strategies.
