Welcome to the third edition of the United States Green Guide 2025.
The US presents a mixed landscape of sustainability efforts, where the anti-ESG postures of certain stakeholders, states, and Attorney Generals contrast with a vibrant net-zero financing regime and a rich environmental credit market.
The legal sector has a vital role at the foreground of these developments. As investors and companies are hit with investigations and suits regarding the fiduciary and antitrust implications of their ESG investments and industry collaborations, legal advice is essential in restoring the confidence of sustainability-minded clients and ensuring that the private sector continues to make a meaningful impact toward global decarbonization.
Yet companies’ engagement in the green transition continues to be blemished by greenwashing allegations, where the legal sector must now chart a path for clients that ensures the veracity of sustainability claims. Where firms and clients are faithfully blending sustainability into their operations, such examples must be illuminated as best practice rather than obscured – or ‘hushed’ – under the weight of anti-ESG reaction.
Above this all, however, there exists a growing diversity of sectors and geographies with exciting decarbonization projects. Given the growth of wind projects off the east coast, clean hydrogen and carbon capture facilities and pipelines in Texas, and a nationwide profile of residential, commercial, and utility-scale solar plants, projects teams across the US are actively participating in the energy transition.
Moreover, legal teams across the country are playing an increasingly diverse role in supporting the development and delivery of green projects, as the US government economic support is facilitating diverse ways of de-risking decarbonization-focused developments and allowing more actors to gain the necessary financial assistance through mechanisms such as department grants and loans, state-led clean infrastructure projects, and the tax incentives of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Therefore, it is not just the teams with a long pedigree in the US’ energy hotspots who are vital to the green transition. Rather, the policy expertise of Washington DC teams, the support mechanisms engineered by New York-based finance and capital markets lawyers, and the overall nationwide connections of ESG lawyers who are providing holistic support for corporates’ sustainability initiatives are vital in setting a green regulatory climate, accessing the capital of leading financial institutions, and in guiding the buy-in of major clients.
With such diverse legal teams entering this space, we are witnessing an exciting and diverse green transition occurring within the US economy. Major corporates, whether through transitioning to public benefit corporations or through signing renewable energy-based corporate Power Purchase Agreements, are acting upon their sustainability strategies and making a positive shift within their operations. The built environment continues to decarbonize, with important strides made regarding sustainability-linked finance, green developments and leases, and the expansion of the CPACE energy upgrade program.
The energy sector itself continues to attract low-carbon projects. Alongside developments in renewable energy technologies, low-carbon hydrogen, and carbon capture value chains, there is exciting growth in the electric vehicle production and battery manufacturing space, thereby supporting the US’ major automotive sector in moving away from hydrocarbons.
At the heart of clean energy investment is the growth of renewable energy credits, which allow corporations to commit capital and support the creation of additional clean energy capacity. This growth in the credit market is complemented by a new wave of confidence and accountability in the nature-based credit space, where sustainable forest schemes are working to protect the country’s vast forest resources.
In the nature-based credit market, just as with clean energy deals and innovative sustainable finance transactions, US-based teams are creating knowledge and best practices that can assist in the green transition and biodiversity protection of developing economies.
So, despite the challenges being faced, this remains an optimistic space for legal work. We hope this 2025 edition of the United States Green Guide demonstrates this diversity of pioneering and impactful legal work, as we highlight those law firms with a powerful green commitment.
Anna Bauböck | EditorHarry Hyde | Senior Researcher
