Green Technology Law and Business 2010: Legislation, Financing, Carbon Trading and Sustainability

Overview

Recently admitted NY attorneys: This program is accredited for transitional CLE credit

Why You Should Attend

Climate change is not just a change in greenhouse gases - it is also about change in the political, social, legal and financial climate for operating a business. Developments in Green Technology make it practical, advantageous and timely for businesses of all sizes to adopt Green Technology products, services and practices to increase energy efficiency and reduce costs,  reduce emissions, implement sustainability and carbon neutral practices, trade carbon credits, increase energy efficiency and achieve other business benefits. 

This year legislation is particularly important.  New and planned laws and regulations will affect virtually every business.  As the investment climate for alternative energy and energy control technologies matures, government funding plays an increasingly important role. As new technologies and business practices emerge, it is critical for lawyers and other professionals to stay current with developments in the U.S. and abroad to manage their organizations’ challenges and take advantage of new opportunities.  This path-breaking conference will bring together legal, government and business experts to provide guidance on the pressing issues that companies need to know to conduct business today and plan for tomorrow’s legal environment.

What You Will Learn

• The direct and indirect business opportunities presented by the energy aspects of the Stimulus legislation
• How to apply for, access and benefit from Green Technology tax credits, loans and other government incentive programs    
• The changing financing landscape for investing in wind, solar, renewable energy, emissions control, clean technology and other GreenTech companies; and new strategies for raising debt and equity in the current economic and political climate
• Special issues for start-up companies and due diligence issues for their investors
• IP as protection for, and a barrier to, Green Technology companies and strategic alliances
• Critical legislative developments, proposals and policy trends
• Carbon credit trading under the U.S. and Kyoto regimes
• How corporations will measure their carbon footprint and establish carbon neutral and sustainability policies, and impose them on their supply chain
• The role of outsourcing in corporate contracts for sustainability, emissions control and enforcing corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies responsive to climate change

Who Should Attend

This program is specifically designed for in-house counsel, lawyers in private practice, professional advisers and others who advise companies: which are developing and implementing legal and business strategies for Green Technology practices; comply with climate control regulation;  seeking to raise capital from private equity, venture capital, markets and government sources; creating and trading carbon credits; investing in and forming strategic alliances with Green Technology companies; buying Green Technology products, services and IP; developing carbon neutral and Green corporate responsibility policies; and litigating Green Technology disputes.

Special Features

Live Webcast - Simultaneous live webcast of the San Francisco session is available for individual viewing. Webcast participants will receive streaming audio and/or video of the program, view and print the Course Handbook, and have the ability to submit questions electronically.

For more information click on the Live Webcast link in the Related Items box.

Special Bonus to all Registrants

All attendees receive a complimentary copy of PLI's comprehensive Course Handbook. This softcover, bound volume was written to augment this program and to stand alone as a permanent reference. PLI's Course Handbooks represent the definitive thinking of the nation's finest legal minds, and are often the standard reference in the field.

Please Note: Webcast attendees will receive a downloadable version of the Handbook one business day prior to the program.

PLI Group Discounts

Groups of 4-14 from the same organization, all registering at the same time, for a PLI program scheduled for presentation at the same site, are entitled to receive a group discount. For further discount information, please contact membership@pli.edu or call (800) 260-4PLI.

PLI Can Arrange Group Viewing to Your Firm

Contact the Groupcasts Department via email at groupcasts@pli.edu for more details.

Cancellations

All cancellations received 3 business days prior to the program will be refunded 100%. If you do not cancel within the allotted time period, payment is due in full. You may substitute another individual to attend the program at any time.

Schedule

Please plan to arrive with enough time to register before the conference begins. A networking breakfast will be available upon your arrival.

Morning Session:  9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

9:00  Program Overview (including What Websites Should You be Reading) 

William A. Tanenbaum and Mitchell Zuklie

9:15  Energy and Climate Policy Update: What’s Hot, What’s Not, and What is Pending in Congress

• What has the Stimulus Legislation done for Green Technology?
  -Funding
  -Application process
  -How are venture capitalists adjusting to Washington and public funding?
• Status of cap and trade legislation
• Report on regional regulatory regimes
  -RGGI
  -Western Initiative
  -Etc.
• Copenhagen, U.S.-China bilateral negotiations and other international developments 

John Busterud, Mary Simmons Mendoza, Robert G. O'Connor

10:45  Break
 
11:00  What is the Financing Landscape for Different CleanTech and Renewable Energy Businesses and What are the Important Technology Developments and Obstacles

• Wind
• Solar
• Batteries
• Automobile tech
• Biofuels
• Geothermal
• Clean coal and carbon sequestration
• Nuclear power
• Water conservation
• What technologies are the Chinese developing?  
• Green Technology financing trends and predictions
• Venture capital developments
• Renewable energy incentive programs and other incentives
• Applying for, obtaining and using incentives in business today
• Tax-structuring considerations
• Tax treatment of gains from emission allowances
• The current local regulatory environment and predictions for its future

Mitchell Zuklie (moderator); Warren Hogarth, Jason Matlof

12:30  Lunch

Afternoon Session:  1:45 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

1:45  So Your Company Wants to Become Sustainable:  What Does This Mean and What Issues Do You Address

• Energy efficiency in internal operations
• Establishing a corporate “carbon neutral” policy
• Is your company an industrial emitter or an office-based business, and what differences flow from the nature of the business
• Controlling the supply chain
• What do you add to your contracts?
• Why IT becomes so important

William A. Tanenbaum, Andrew Armstrong

2:45  Industrial Green Technology Developments

• "Cradle to loading dock" and "cradle to cradle" manufacturing
• Remanufacturing
  -Remanufacturing saved enough natural resources to fill a train 1,100 miles long and saved enough energy to power  6 million cars
  -The patent risks of remanufacturing 
• Corporate green grids
• What is “smart” about smart technologies?

Matthew Denesuk, Ph.D., Chris Erickson

3:45  Break

4:00  Carbon Credit Trading: The U.S. Voluntary Market, U.S. Regulated Market, EU ETS, CDMs International

• Why do U.S. companies trade carbon in the absence of legal requirements?
• What is the voluntary trading infrastructure (registries, etc.)
• Regional mandatory regimes
  -RGGI, etc. 
• Status of U.S. Federal Cap and Trade  regime   
• Interplay with renewable energy credits
• EU ETS, 
  -What U.S. companies need to know about upcoming phases of the EU regime
• International
• How are credits valued? 
• Why the U.S. voluntary market will co-exist with a cap and  trade regime 
• How carbon trading fits with reducing corporate carbon footprints

William A. Tanenbaum (moderator); Madeleine M.L. Tan, Cecilia (Sid) Embree

5:00  Adjourn

Faculty

Co-Chair(s)

William A. Tanenbaum, Kaye Scholer LLP
Mitchell Zuklie, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

Speaker(s)

Andrew Armstrong, Vice President, WSP Environment & Energy LLC
John Busterud, Director & Counsel/Environmental Affairs, Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E)
Matthew Denesuk, Partner, IBM Venture Capital Group
Cecilia (Sid) Embree, President, CoolClimate LLC (USA) and AtmosClear Canada Inc.
Chris Erickson, CEO and Co-Founder, Climate Earth, Inc.
Warren Hogarth, Partner, Sequoia Capital
Jason Matlof, Partner, Battery Ventures
Mary Simmons Mendoza, Haynes & Boone, LLP
Robert G. O'Connor, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Madeleine M.L. Tan, Kaye Scholer LLP

Program Attorney(s)

Tamara C. Kiwi, Program Attorney, Practising Law Institute

CLE Credit

Travel Information

San Francisco Seminar Location

PLI California Center, 685 Market Street, San Francisco, California 94105. (415) 498-2800.

San Francisco Hotel Accommodations

The Palace Hotel, 2 New Montgomery Street, San Francisco, California 94105. Call (800) 917-7456 seven days a week from 6:00 am to 12:00 am (PDT) and mention you are attending this program at Practising Law Institute to receive the preferred rate. For online reservations, go to www.sfpalace.com/pli to receive the preferred rate.

Due to high demand we recommend reserving hotel rooms as early as possible.