Baker McKenzie has appointed Sydney-based climate change partner Ilona Millar to the role of global head of Climate Change. The Firm says its climate change and climate finance practice has a longstanding commitment to helping companies respond to the risks and opportunities associated with climate change.

Two decades

For more than two decades, the firm states it has built a global practice of multidisciplinary climate change lawyers who work continually on innovative and pioneering deals. Ms Millar has worked for the last 20 years on climate law and finance, including the development of law and policy and its implementation by both governments and the private sector. This experience extends to complex multijurisdictional transactions as well as the development of innovative responses to climate change and sustainability problems. She has worked extensively on the development of carbon contracts, carbon funds and carbon transactions in both the compliance and voluntary markets. Ms Millar also has a deep expertise in advising on natural sinks and forest based carbon transactions as well as on geological sequestration and the legal frameworks for carbon capture and storage. More recently she has been leading work exploring the role of hydrogen in transitioning to a low carbon economy. Prior to joining Baker McKenzie in 2008, Ms Millar worked at the Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development (FIELD) in London. She is also a former principal solicitor of the Environmental Defender's Office Ltd (NSW). She currently serves as a visiting fellow at the Australia National University College of Law where she has taught international climate change law since 2009. Her appointment coincides with the adoption by Baker McKenzie of its own emission reduction targets for the period to 2030.

Climate challenges

Discussing Ms Millar’s appointment, Jose Antonio Moran, who chairs the firm's global energy, mining & infrastructure industry group commented “Taking into consideration the energy transition phenomenon across the energy, infrastructure and mining sectors, climate change remains the number one existential crisis for both society and business. A sustainable future requires meeting the challenges that climate change presents and translating them into market opportunities whilst mitigating the many risks associated with simply remaining in a state of business as usual.” Ms Millar said “Baker McKenzie is the market leader in climate change law and I am immensely honoured to have been appointed to this role as we continue to work on first-of-its-kind matters that are helping our clients around the world address the challenges of climate change.”