The world’s changing climate is increasingly shaping our global economy. Clients turn to Morgan Lewis as a trusted adviser as they take action to address how climate change impacts their businesses and the communities they serve—whether through managing the impact of severe weather, reducing their carbon footprints, securing tax benefits, or implementing an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy.
Workplace Safety. Oversight bodies increasingly scrutinize how heat and extreme weather affects workers’ health and safety. In addition to several states with heat and wildfire standards, the US Department of Labor has a National Emphasis Program focused on heat hazards and has initiated rulemaking on heat injury and illness prevention in indoor and outdoor work settings. We assist employers around the world in evaluating safety and health programs, policies, and procedures to keep their employees safe, address employee safety–related climate change laws and regulations, and avoid investigations and enforcement actions.
Sustainability Strategies. Reducing carbon emissions—even fully decarbonizing—is a crucial step for companies to achieve their sustainability goals, and there is no set roadmap for how to achieve carbon neutrality. We help companies explore and implement the options that work best for their businesses, including renewable energy and fuel infrastructure development and procurement, energy storage development, carbon offset/credit procurement and retirement, carbon capture and sequestration project investment and development, transportation electrification of sustainable fuel procurement, and clean hydrogen. Morgan Lewis has a dedicated decarbonization team that guides clients through a full suite of options to achieve their sustainability targets.
Regulatory & Reporting. Companies are navigating a complicated maze of region-specific climate disclosures intended to raise standards for businesses and drive action on climate change. We assist companies in preemptively identifying legal and regulatory risks through comprehensive reviews of climate-related disclosures and reports and advise them on the evolving global reporting requirements.
Litigation & Enforcement. As the global climate changes, it can disrupt and damage infrastructure, natural resources, and people’s ways of life. That, in turn, can lead to federal and state enforcement and administrative investigations, congressional hearings, investor and consumer class actions, individual and mass tort cases, and more. We help companies think through unprecedented legal problems, respond to climate-focused investigations and lawsuits, and ensure that their litigation strategies align with their corporate goals and values.
Administrative Proceedings. Agencies in every government are revisiting old regulations and considering new regulations to respond to the changing climate. We help companies work with regulators to achieve optimal climate-related regulations, and we represent clients seeking judicial review of regulations.
Investing. There is an increasing market for climate-specific private investment funds that focus on investment in climate change mitigation. Our lawyers help investment managers meet the evolving preferences of investors and the missions of charitable entities as they explore innovations in fund structures and terms, investment methodologies, and reporting standards, and as investors consider and implement climate-related policies and related capital deployment. Our combination of leading investment fund, tax-exempt, regulatory, and corporate practices make us uniquely positioned to advise on these evolving opportunities.
Tax Advantages. The US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) greatly expanded the federal income tax incentives for the manufacture and deployment of decarbonization and green technologies. Our longstanding clean tech industry tax and project finance experience—bolstered by our cutting-edge post-IRA work on new financing and tax benefit monetization structures and cross-practice proficiency in nontax areas critical to post-IRA tax incentives—make us well situated to advise developers, investors, lenders, and tax credit buyers on virtually all matters relating to IRA tax incentives.
Insurance Recovery. Insurance is a critical asset that must be assessed, preserved, and maximized to respond to potential climate-related litigation and help rebuild and recover business losses after a severe weather or other climate-related event—a complex process with hidden challenges. We assist clients with leveraging all available insurance coverage and effectively pursuing claims.
Intellectual Property. Leading-edge technology will be a defining factor in addressing the climate crisis. We help companies remain vigilant in protecting their IP assets in an era of heightened competition where public sources of funding for renewable energy and clean and other low-carbon technologies have become increasingly prominent.