Climate Change Law

• Jeremy Weinstein is a leading legal expert in energy trading and environmental finance.  He has negotiated and documented numerous physical and financial transactions covering millions of megawatt-hours and its equivalent in energy, emissions and fuels.  He is prominent in the most exciting, developing areas of environmental finance, advising major industrial companies on emissions trading and mitigation strategies relating to climate change and the Kyoto Protocol, California Renewable Portfolio Standard requirements, renewable resource development, and negotiating and documenting significant transactions.   Jeremy Weinstein was awarded the 2007 Distinguished Service in Environmental Markets Award by the Environmental Markets Association for his work on a standard form of master renewable energy certificates trading contract.  He played a primary role with Canopy Botanicals, a Bolivian sustainable development company established to help fund the Noel Kempff Climate Action Project, a rainforest preservation joint venture of The Nature Conservancy, American Electric Power, PacifiCorp, and BP, and also worked on the Rio Bravo Carbon Sequestration Pilot Project, a rain forest preservation project in Belize funded by American utilities and others.  He has addressed national conferences on topics in climate change, weather derivatives, renewable energy certificates (also known as or "green tags") and emissions trading.

• His recent publications in the field include:

• "Contract Techniques for Renewable Resource Power Purchase Agreement Off-Takers," chapter in Kramer & Fusaro, Energy and Environmental Project Finance Law and Taxation: New Investment Techniques (Oxford University Press, 2010);

• "The ABA/EMA/ACORE Master Renewable Energy Certificate Trading Agreement," Bloomberg Law Reports: Sustainable Energy, vol. 2 no. 9, p. 11 (Sept. 2009);

• "The New ABA/EMA/ACORE Master Renewable Energy Certificate Trading Agreement," chapter in Kramer and Fusaro, Energy and Environmental Trading: US Law and Taxation (2008);

• "New Master Renewable Energy Certificate Trading Agreement," American Bar Association Energy Committees Newsletter, May 2007;

• "On the Path to Renewable Energy Certificates Derivatives," Futures & Derivatives Law Report, Apr. 2007;

• Introduction and Guidance Notes, ABA/EMA/ACORE Master Renewable Energy Certificate Purchase and Sale Agreement, Feb. 2007 (with other credited working group members);

• "Contracting for a Unified Renewable Energy Certificates Market," Environmental Finance, Nov. 2006;  

• "Standardizing Renewable Energy Certificates Contracting," Environmental Finance, May 2005;  

• "A Western Renewables Marketplace," Environmental Finance, Apr. 2004; 

• "Examining Enron's SO₂ Emission Trades," Environmental Finance, Mar. 2003;

• "Using the Emissions Marketing Association Master Agreement," The Emissions Trader, Mar. 2003; 

• "Carbon-Denominated Weather Swaps," Environmental Finance, Nov. 2001;

• "Weather Derivatives for Environmental Risk Management," Energy & Power Risk Management, Sep. 2001; and

• "Emissions Trading: The Market as Mystic," Energy & Power Risk Management, Nov. 2000.

• Projects on which he has worked include:

• Black Warrior Landfill Methane Carbon Reduction Tonnes (representing Carbon credit buyer CE2 Capital)

• PG&E ClimateSmart Program forestry Carbon credits (representing buyer PG&E)

• PG&E ClimateSmart Program dairy methane Carbon credits acquisition (representing Buyer PG&E)

• PG&E ClimateSmart Program (representing buyer PG&E on Carbon credit acquisition)

• PG&E's ClimateSmart Program (representing PG&E)

• Campbell Hill 99 MW wind farm (representing power purchase agreement buyer PacifiCorp)

• Wolverine Creek 64.5MW wind farm (representing renewable energy PPA buyer PacifiCorp)

• Renewable energy for the NY Freedom Tower (representing renewable energy provider PPM Energy, Inc.)

• Noel Kempff Climate Action Project (representing investor PacifiCorp)

• BBC interview on international climate change policy, from Bolivia (realmedia file)

• His committee work includes:

  • Co-chair, ABA/EMA/ACORE Renewable Energy Certificates Trading Agreement Drafting Committee

    • Media coverage :

    • ABA/EMA/ACORE Renewable Energy Certificates Trading Agreement

    • ABA/EMA/ACORE Renewable Energy Certificates Trading Agreement

    • ABA/EMA/ACORE Renewable Energy Certificates Trading Agreement

  • Member, ISDA/Emissions Trading Annex Drafting Committee
  • Member, Western Renewable Energy Generation Information System Stakeholder Advisory Committee
  • Member, EMA Master Emissions Trading Agreement Drafting Committee

  • Member, ABA Renewable Energy Bar Section

  • Comments on the CFTC/SEC Dodd-Frank ANOPR
  • Comments on the Western Climate Initiative Market Oversight White Paper
  • Comments on the CFTC Notice of Intended Rulemaking on Chicago Climate Exchange Carbon Financial Instruments

• His educational credentials include an A.B., summa cum laude, (1982) University of California, Berkeley, Phi Beta Kappa; B.A. (1984) and M.A. in law, with honors, Trinity Hall, Cambridge University, England; and J.D. (1987) University of California.

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