The Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) yesterday announced that it is has appointed an Expert Advisory Group (EAG), which will provide advice to the VCMI Secretariat and Steering Committee ahead of the launch of its Claims Code of Practice later this year. VCMI launched its Provisional Claims Code of Practice in the middle of last year. Earlier this week, VCMI announced a partnership with Winrock International to produce an operable VCMI Claims Code of Practice for voluntary use of carbon credits. The purpose of the Claims Code of Practice is to provide clear guidance to companies and other non-state actors on when and how they can credibly make voluntary use of carbon credits as part of their net-zero commitments and climate mitigation strategies, and the claims they can make about that use. VCMI said that EAG participants were invited to join the group due to the range of expertise they bring from across key sectors and geographies. Members include carbon market experts, environmental and sustainability professionals, Indigenous community leaders, and legal and accounting practitioners. Resilient LLP Senior Partner and CEO Lisa DeMarco is among those appointed to the EAG. The full list of EAG members is available on the VCMI website. For further information or to discuss the contents of this bulletin, please contact Lisa DeMarco at lisa@resilientllp.com.
Resilient LLP is pleased to announce that Who’s Who Legal (WWL) has recognized Lisa DeMarco, Senior Partner and CEO, as a “Global Elite Thought Leader” in Climate Change Law. She has been identified as leading in climate change law, particularly within the energy market, and described as “the lead climate change lawyer in Canada on any issue.” Resilient is also pleased to announce that it has been recognized as a leading voluntary carbon market specialist by Environmental Finance magazine. The Resilient Team including Jonathan McGillivray (Senior Associate), Daniel Vollmer (Associate), Nicholas Daube (Counsel), John Coyne, and Monika Pecnikova, was named the Runner-Up Best Global Law Firm in Environmental Finance’s 2022 Voluntary Carbon Market Rankings, following the results of its peer review survey. The rankings are the magazine’s annual poll of the market, in which market participants vote for the leading companies, service providers, and initiatives based on efficiency and speed of transaction; reliability; innovation; quality of service provided and influence on the market, not just the volume of transactions handled. “We are very pleased that our partners and clients have recognized our world-leading specialized climate and clean energy legal and advisory services,” said Lisa DeMarco. “We are grateful to have our clients’ trust as we support them in navigating the transition to a net-zero and climate-resilient future.” Resilient LLP is Canada’s only climate and clean energy boutique law firm and provides leading multi-jurisdictional legal advice in the areas of climate change, clean energy, and related Indigenous rights. Read more about our service offering on our website. Please cast your vote for Resilient LLP as Best Law Firm in Environmental Finance’s Annual Market Rankings 2022 by following this link (voting is open until Friday, October 28, 2022). We appreciate your support!
Resilient LLP is pleased to announce that it has been recognized as an industry leader in global carbon markets by Environmental Finance magazine. Resilient was named the “Best Law Firm” overall in the North American category for GHG Markets in Environmental Finance’s 22nd Annual Market Rankings. The Annual Market Rankings invite leading brokers, financiers, dealers, and service providers to nominate and vote on leaders in each category based on efficiency and speed of transactions, reliability, innovation, quality of information and services provided, and influence on the market. “We are very pleased that our clients and partners have recognized our services at a time when national and corporate net-zero plans are enhancing environmental integrity and ambition,” said Lisa DeMarco, Senior Partner and CEO of Resilient. “We are grateful for our loyal clients and the market-leading work and innovative transactions that they are doing. This is a critically important time for global carbon markets, which will need to scale by more than 15-fold by 2030 in order to effectively address the challenges of climate change.” A related Environmental Finance article covers key 2021 carbon markets highlights. Resilient LLP is Canada’s only climate and clean energy boutique law firm and provides leading multi-jurisdictional legal advice on all aspects of complex carbon markets, emissions trading, and Indigenous matters. For further information, please contact Lisa DeMarco at lisa@resilientllp.com.
We would like to congratulate Lisa DeMarco who was elected Chair of the governing council of the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) at its Annual General Meeting on November 9, 2021. Lisa is the first woman to serve as Chair of IETA and previously served as Vice Chair. She is Senior Partner and CEO of Resilient LLP and has more than two decades of experience in law, regulation, policy and advocacy relating to energy and climate change. Mary Grady, Executive Director of the American Carbon Registry, and Enric Arderiu, Global Head of Environmental Products at Mercuria Energy Trading S.A., were elected Vice Chairs. More information is available in IETA’s press release. IETA is the voice of business on carbon markets around the world. Established in 1999, IETA’s members include global leaders in the electricity, oil/gas, cement, aluminium, chemical, mining, technology, standards, verification, broking, trading, legal, finance, accounting and consulting industries. More information about IETA is available on its website.
The Global Risk Institute (GRI) yesterday published a paper titled “Climate-Related Legal Risks for Financial Institutions: Executive Brief” (the “Paper”), authored by Dr. Janis Sarra with the Canada Climate Law Initiative and Resilient LLP’s Lisa DeMarco. The Paper provides an overview of the many risks now faced by the financial sector including regulatory liability, securities law litigation, fiduciary duty risk, professional indemnity insurance risk, “greenwashing” litigation, commercial contract risk, litigation against governments, and civil lawsuits. The Paper also provides “best practice tips” for financial institutions, risk managers, and board risk committees to consider and implement as a means to limit their liability and reduce their climate-related risks. These recommendations include, among others: Undertaking a high-level assessment of litigation exposure across loan and policy books, investment portfolios, and operations; Embedding management of climate-related risks as part of core business risk management; Investigating and disclosing climate-related vulnerabilities in investment portfolios; and Creating an action plan to reduce Scope 1, 2, and 3 carbon emissions as evidence of a financial institution’s due diligence in addressing climate-related financial risk. The first page of the Paper appears below. The full text of the paper is available on the Global Risk Institute website here. For further information or to discuss the contents of this bulletin, please contact Lisa DeMarco at lisa@resilientllp.com.