Michael D. Green

Michael’s representative matters include advising:

Sustainability / ESG

• Large global private equity funds on all aspects of their ESG requirements, including the incorporation of ESG guidelines, the development of ESG processes in respect of diligence on all potential acquisitions and exits, and ESG reviews of newly acquired companies
• Global companies and financial institutions in relation to ESG reporting, strategy, and governance, including the application of human rights laws and principles and other ESG-related laws and principles
• Global financial institutions on a range of ESG issues, including in connection with energy transition regulatory developments (such as CCS, renewable energy, green hydrogen, and similar), complaints made under the OECD Multinational Guidelines, and lender liability concerns
• Global manufacturers and investors in connection with reviews of value chains and business models from an ESG perspective (including reporting to queries from regulators and international organizations)
• Global organizations on ground-breaking and complex ESG and climate change litigation matters, including energy majors in climate change litigation and judicial review proceedings
• Global companies and financial institutions in relation to greenwashing risks, including in connection with investigations involving the SEC, the European Commission and CPC Network, and national advertising standards agencies
• The development of significant innovations in and adjacent to the legal market, including: (1) the development of a desktop soil and groundwater report that is now standard across all UK leading law firms; (2) the development of a liability buy-out solution in conjunction with a major environmental consultancy; and (3) the development of RiskHorizon, an ESG risk-screening tool
• Sponsors of a large-scale green steel plant in Sweden, including an on-site integrated green hydrogen facility, on the EU law-related environmental regulatory aspects of the project

Environmental, Land, and Resources

• Private equity, corporates, and financial institutions in connection with M&A deals, capital market matters, and financings (including project finance)
• The Carlyle Group on the environmental aspects of the acquisition of AkzoNobel’s Specialty Chemicals business for €10.1 billion
• Onex Corporation on the EHS aspects of its €3.75 billion acquisition of SIG Combibloc Group AG, the second-largest provider of aseptic carton packaging globally
• Global companies on a range of EHS regulatory issues, including the transboundary movement of waste, and lender liability concerns
• SABIC on the acquisition of Huntsman’s UK petrochemicals business, and providing support to SABIC across a range of EHS issues
• Trafigura Limited and Trafigura Beheer B.V. on the environmental aspects of the high-profile personal injury claim by over 30,000 claimants from the Ivory Coast — one of the largest pieces of environmental litigation ever brought before a UK court. This involved parties around the world, including the Ivory Coast, UK, Netherlands, the European Union, the US, and the United Nations, and providing ongoing support to Trafigura on a range of matters
• Global manufacturers in relation to EU ETS and UK ETS, including in connection with the mitigation of potential fines under these emissions trading schemes as a result of under-reporting allowances and the over-allocation of allowances on site closure
• A leading chemical company on its complex infrastructure and energy contractual arrangements, including devising a litigation strategy to exit those arrangements