When it comes to supporting our clients in achieving their sustainability goals, we take a holistic approach. Our ESG & Sustainability Lead, Jill Shaw, focuses solely on ESG and sustainability matters, and brings together expertise from a broad range of practice areas through our cross-departmental ESG & Sustainability Group. This group works with our clients to navigate the rapidly changing legal and regulatory ESG landscape.
As decisions we make as a firm to be more sustainable reflect those our clients are also making, we ensure our ESG & Sustainability Group and our Responsible Business team collaborate continually, with each team always aware of the work of the other.
Drawing on our deep cross-sectoral expertise, we advise across a wide range of sustainability-related topics with our practice concentrating on six focus areas.
Leading our cross-departmental ESG & Sustainability Group
Highlights 2022-2024
2022
Jill Shaw joined as ESG & Sustainability Lead, a new role at the firm.
2023
Dedicated ESG trainee rotation introduced.
2024
40+ client updates published on a broad range of sustainability-related topics.
ESG advisory practice: our six focus areas
1. Climate action and the environment
Our firm’s Energy, Infrastructure & Natural Resources group and our Environmental & Planning group advise on the delivery of the Green Deal and Climate Action Plan targets in Ireland.
Having advised clients on over 6GW of renewable energy projects, our renewable energy team is known for its deep specialist local knowledge, being commercially savvy and getting the deal done. It has experience in offshore and onshore wind, solar, battery storage, data centres, energy efficiency, waste to energy and renewable gas, biodiesel, biomass, electric vehicles and green hydrogen.
2. Sustainable investments and finance
Multiple teams across ALG advise on all aspects of sustainable finance and investments including:
- Our Asset Management & Investment Funds team advise on designing products with a sustainability focus including UCITS and AIFs that disclose under Articles 8 or 9 of SFDR. The team also provides advice to clients on the actions they can take to mitigate sustainability related risks.
- Our Insurance practice advises (re)insurers, intermediaries and other regulated entities on regulatory expectations and sustainability-related requirements including under SFDR, CSRD, the Taxonomy Regulation, Solvency II, the IDD and MiFID.
- Our General Finance, Financial Regulation, Pensions and Aviation & Transport Finance teams also provide advice on sustainability related matters relevant to their practices.
3. Governance and management
ESG issues pose material financial, operational, strategic and reputational risk to businesses, while also creating significant opportunities. Boards and senior management teams must ensure systems, processes and controls are in place to help take advantage of the opportunities and mitigate the risks.
ALG has acted for private and public corporations on many local and global transactions with a strong sustainability focus. We have also been advising companies on a broad range of sustainability related requirements including sustainability reporting, disclosure and due diligence obligations. Topics such as supply chain management, circularity, energy management, climate change and biodiversity loss are increasingly areas of focus for businesses.
4. Sustainable real estate and construction
ALG’s Real Estate and Construction teams have been advising owners and developers on obligations to deliver developments meeting ESG specifications (such as LEED Platinum and BREEAM, the Home Performance Index).
They also advise on retrofitting, green lease clauses, sustainability and supply chain clauses, green lending and the circular economy.
5. Employment
ALG’s Employment team advises clients on D&I, pay transparency and gender pay gap reporting, protected disclosures and other workforce related obligations.
They also advise clients on some sustainability reporting obligations that involve consulting with employees and representative bodies, such as European Works Councils.
6. Disputes and investigations
Consumers and regulators are increasingly focused on sustainability claims being made by businesses. More transparency and accountability is expected from businesses, which is leading to more complaints, investigations and cases relating to such claims.
ALG’s Disputes and Investigations Group helps clients to put frameworks in place to mitigate the risks associated with making such claims including greenwashing risk.
Propelling positive change
Sharing insights rooted in our knowledge and experience through thought leadership and knowledge-sharing on ESG themes is central to our work.
We draw on the experience of our multi-disciplinary ESG & Sustainability Group to advise clients across all sectors on a wide range of ESG-related matters relevant to their businesses. To support clients further, we also develop and deliver bespoke training for individual companies to support them in building knowledge on specific ESG matters.
We also advocate for change to industry and society more broadly, as well as devoting resources internally to ensure our people benefit from general and practice group specific training to stay ahead of the ever-changing ESG landscape.
External knowledge-sharing
- participate in conferences and open access and industry specific training sessions
- publish a quarterly ESG and sustainability bulletin
- contribute to external publications
- take part in academic research on sustainability reporting and guest lectures to undergraduate and postgraduate students
Internal knowledge-building
- hold firm-wide training and knowledge sharing sessions
- publish daily internal ESG blog
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