DLA Piper wins at IJ Global ESG Awards for Third Year

DLA Piper has been named as ESG Legal Advisor of the year for Europe at the 2024 IJ Global ESG Awards.

Held in London on Thursday, 17 October 2024, the judges recognised DLA Piper for the counsel offered to clients on sustainability and ESG, including:

• Advising Be.EV, a longstanding British EV charging infrastructure client on a major debt raise to accelerate the growth in the UK EV charging infrastructure sector. As part of the process, existing investor, Octopus Energy Generation has also made a further investment into Be.EV.
• Supporting H&M Group in Sweden on a virtual corporate power purchase agreement (PPA) with Neoen and Alight. As the largest solar PPA to date in Sweden, the long-term agreement will provide a total capacity of at least 90 MWp of renewable energy to H&M Group, helping the company in reducing its carbon footprint and adding new green power capacity to the Swedish grid.

Alongside a range of client matters, DLA Piper’s International firm:

• was the first law firm to win the Terra Carta seal (2023) awarded by the Sustainable Markets Initiative, founded by His Majesty King Charles III;
• was voted No. 1 law firm for ESG impact globally (Impactvise, 2023);
• continued to advise on more renewable energy deals and projects than any other law firm in the world (inspiratia 2021-2023);
• was named as the leading law firm for corporate PPAs in Europe (volume, inspiratia 2021-2023); and
• become a founding member of the Legal Charter 1.5, the SMI Legal Taskforce and the Net Zero Lawyers Alliance.

Natasha Luther-Jones, International Head of Sustainability and ESG, and Global Co-Chair, Energy and Natural Resources Sector, commented: “Sustainability and ESG are key pillars of our business, and we are working with many clients on issues related to their sustainability transition. Over the last year, we advised on a number of significant transactions across Europe which will help to decarbonize business across a large number of sectors and locations.”

“I’d like to thank all of our sustainability professionals across our firm for their role in helping us win this accolade for the third year in a row.”

Jean-Pierre Douglas-Henry, Managing Director, Sustainability and Resilience, added: “We have taken a strategic approach to embed sustainability and ESG into key areas of our business, and not to treat it as a standalone practice area. Being named ESG Legal Advisor of the Year for Europe is a clear testament to our strategy, and one that we will continue to develop as our client needs evolve in the face of changing regulatory, stakeholder and market demands.”