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Services : Climate Law and Regulation

Climate law and regulation is expanding as countries adopt regional and national laws to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by shifting to less carbon-intensive industries and cleaner methods of production. On the international level, negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are issuing guidance and policy directives on the road to a post-2012 agreement.

Climate Focus provides legal advice and policy guidance for governments, civil society and private firms to keep up with new legal developments. Our unique expertise in international climate policy and private carbon markets allows us to rapidly assess and anticipate new climate policy and emerging market opportunities in the climate sector. We are among the few organizations to combine extensive legal, technical and policy expertise with a history in the climate sector that goes back to the start of emissions trading under the Kyoto Protocol. We help clients anticipate legal developments, and navigate the legal landscape to reach their goals. 

For investors and traders, Climate Focus can clarify and manage legal issues around credit transactions, investments, contracts, and operate successfully in different carbon markets. For project developers, Climate Focus performs legal risk analysis and due diligence on investments in a wide variety of countries and projects (both under the regulated and voluntary markets) and assists with all legal and contractual arrangements underpinning project transactions. For governments and public agencies, Climate Focus aligns national legal frameworks and incentives with international climate policy and market design informed by our extensive experience in UNFCCC negotiations and the global carbon markets.

Our services include:

International and Administrative/Public Law

• Advising on rules and procedures under the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol
• Advising on country negotiation strategies in international fora
• Supporting the design of effective national regulatory frameworks
• Structuring Green Investment Schemes and sovereign Assigned Amount Unit transactions
• Structuring carbon procurement programmes and tenders

Private/Commercial Law

• Advising on emissions trading for covered entities and market participants in different countries and regions
• Drafting and negotiating carbon contracts in regulated and voluntary markets such as Emissions Reduction Purchase Agreements
• Structuring debt/equity carbon finance transactions
• Supporting the design of innovative carbon finance products
• Conducting due diligence of carbon-related aspects in mergers and acquisitions and offset project development
• Assisting project developers with the regulatory and project-approval processes under the different carbon markets and standards

Recent Climate Focus assignments include:

• Development of a leading carbon transaction model contract (CERSPA)
• Structuring of a recent AAU transaction/Green Investment Scheme and development of the contractual framework
• Structuring of various Programmes of Activity under the Clean Development Mechanism and voluntary standards in Brazil, Belarus, Malawi, Morocco, South Africa, Tunisia, and elsewhere
• Drafting of a model contract for carbon transactions under Programmes of Activity
• Structuring of a nation-wide carbon transaction model for landfill projects in Morocco including drafting contract models for the public-private partnership transactions involved
• Advice to carbon investors on project structuring and contractual solutions
• Advice to a number of European power utilities on purchase strategies for international markets against the regulatory options under the EU ETS and their compliance needs
• Identification of a UNFCCC negotiation strategy for Kazakhstan and preparing the regulatory implementation of Joint Implementation at the domestic level
• Development of a AAU accounting methodology for the Government of Latvia