Sustainability legal services

EY Law teams can help your law department identify and manage risk associated with sustainability ambitions and operations to drive value. They provide a set of services that can be customized to provide knowledgeable legal guidance, operational improvements and scalable support.

How EY teams can help

Law departments are uniquely situated at the nexus of law, policy, investor relations, risk management and business operations. Increasingly, they are being called on to play a more proactive role in protecting and creating value for the larger organization by helping drive the agenda for the business. This is causing some law departments to expand their involvement in daily business operations and manage non-legal risks in areas lacking clear regulatory guidance. Already facing concerns around talent, workload and budget, the growing volume and complexity of sustainability work is an additional challenge for many law departments.

EY Law multidisciplinary teams include legal, project management and technology professionals who are at the forefront of regulatory developments and well placed to help clients across industries and around the globe with their growing sustainability needs. A full complement of sustainability legal services is available to law departments and can be customized to help address the highly differentiated sustainability priorities and challenges of your organization.

Legal Advisory Services provide knowledgeable legal advice to help law departments better manage risk and navigate complex and evolving sustainability regulations and issues. EY Legal Function Consulting and Legal Managed Services teams offer strategic guidance and the support of over 1,000 legal professionals to help law departments more efficiently and cost effectively manage growing sustainability workloads.

EY sustainability services for law departments span four key areas :

Advising clients on regulations, such as the EU Green Deal, and actions to address climate change and environmental degradation, including:

Renewable energy, Green Power Purchase Agreements and clean technology
Heat transition and combined heat and power generation (CHP) projects
Circular economy frameworks including requirements for products and packaging, eco-design and environmental fees
Decarbonization and energy transition strategies
Carbon pricing regimes, emissions trading, carbon credits, carbon offset assets, carbon border adjustments and carbon capture utilization or storage projects
Guidance on generation projects, including new construction, modernization and improvements on existing power plants and facilities
Incorporation of environmental policies in financing strategies, investment decisions and purchase agreements
Review of the available sources of financing for the sustainable investments, to include an indication of the evaluation criteria, the time horizon, the level of support and a description of the application process
Regulatory tracking and compliance

EY Law teams also support the EU Green Deal Center of Excellence (COE), a multidisciplinary and cross-border team of seasoned sustainability, climate change, energy, environmental and green finance legal professionals whose mission is to provide assistance around the EU Green Deal and its building blocks, including Fit for 55, sustainable finance, supply chain due diligence and circular economy frameworks. The COE provides a single, centralized source for strategic legal and regulatory advice to help clients around the globe navigate continually evolving policies and regulations and make connections across EU Green Deal initiatives.
Helping clients maintain legal and regulatory compliance and design initiatives to address employee safety, wellbeing, diversity, equity and inclusion to improve employee engagement, productivity and retention.

Services pertain to issues involving:

Employment law tracking and compliance
Pay equity
Codes of conduct
Whistle-blower frameworks
Child labor and human rights policies
Diversity initiatives
Return to office policies
Providing due diligence support to identify human rights and other environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues in transactions, the supply chain, high-risk projects and the entire value chain, including downstream and internal operations. Services are provided in connection with:

Legal and compliance diligence
Vendor diligence
Transaction diligence
Supplier questionnaire review
Identification and remediation of contract processes, legal content and counterparty contracts
Providing legal advice that helps clients take environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations into account when making lending and investment decisions including: corporate clients assessing relevant criteria to qualify for ESG-related lending, investments or incentives, financial institutions defining ESG-related lending practices and financial market participants issuing and advising on ESG-related instruments or products.

Supervisory requirements, disclosure and reporting obligations
Calculation of green asset and investment ratios
Market communication on ESG products
Qualification of green loans, green bonds, social bonds, sustainable derivatives, structured products and sustainability funds
Low-carbon benchmarks

Explore the full breadth of our value-led sustainability and ESG services at EY Sustainability.

EY member firms do not practice law where not permitted by local law and regulations.

The team

Jeff Soar

EY Global Law Leader

EY Global Law Leader with over 25 years of experience. Rugby and cricket fan. Lives in the countryside with wife and son. Loves the great outdoors.

London, GBR

Michelle T. Davies

EY Global Sustainability Legal Services Leader; Partner, Law, Ernst & Young LLP

Committed to helping organizations achieve sustainability. Love the simple things in life – the countryside, Monmouthshire produce, family and friends. Active in preventing youth homelessness.

London, GBR

Paula Hogéus

EY Global Labor and Employment Law Leader and Nordics Law Leader

Advisor to clients on a wide range of domestic and international employment law issues - workforce restructuring, strategic workforce planning, workforce risk management and HR transactions.

Stockholm, SWE

Linn Anker-Sørensen

EY Global Sustainable Finance Law and Regulation Leader

International professional in sustainable and decentralized finance. Advises financial entities, listed companies and scale-ups in their transition into a sustainable future.

Oslo, NOR

Kasia Klaczynska Lewis

Partner, Ernst & Young Law Talasiewicz, Zakrzewska i Wspólnicy sp.k.

International professional expert on the EU Green Deal. Manages cross-border projects related to decarbonization and sustainability.

Warszawa, POL

Boris Scholtka

EY EMEIA Law ESG Due Diligence Co-Leader

Passionate about setting the right course for climate protection and resource-saving business. Loves cooking and eating. Enjoys skiing, American football and soccer.

Berlin, DEU

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EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients.

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