Financial Times Again Shortlists Pillsbury as Most Innovative in the Energy Transition

Shortlisted in the Energy Transition category for the fourth time this year, the firm was recognized based on its representation of The Aspen Institute and Cargo Owners for Zero-Emissions Vessels (coZEV) in developing ZEMBA, the Zero-Maritime Buyers Alliance, which is focused on accelerating the decarbonization of the maritime shipping sector.

Over the last two years, a team of Pillsbury lawyers led by Energy partner Jeff Merrifield, the leader of the firm’s globally recognized Nuclear practice, has worked with an integrated team of Pillsbury attorneys to assist Aspen and coZEV to develop the ZEMBA initiative to accelerate the investment in and development of zero-carbon maritime fuel services.

Among its signal achievements, ZEMBA closed a deal for zero-carbon fuel services with global container shipping company Hapag-Lloyd and well-known companies such as Amazon, Meta and lululemon, among others.

As a part of that deal, ZEMBA’s members collectively committed to purchase more than one billion container miles of zero-emission shipping. The commitment is expected to collectively avoid at least 82,000 metric tons of CO2e over two years through Hapag-Lloyd’s exclusively waste-based biomethane service.

The Pillsbury team was instrumental in developing the request for proposals for the Hapag-Lloyd transaction. It also devised a proposal-scoring methodology, reviewed the proposals and created a first-of-its kind template contract for ZEMBA members to purchase green certificates for zero-carbon fuel.

In addition to Merrifield, the Pillsbury team included Corporate partner Jeffrey Grill, Antitrust & Competition partner Michael Sibarium, Tax special counsel Robert Logan and Global Sourcing & Technology Transactions partner Aaron Oser, with contributions from members of the firm’s Nonprofit, Employment Law and Government Law & Strategies teams.

Last year, another team led by Merrifield, was awarded the 2023 Most Innovative Law Firm in the Energy Transition for their efforts to assist the Fusion Industry Association in their efforts to facilitate an appropriate and risk-informed regulatory framework for fusion. Click here to learn more.