ESG

An overview

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) sit at the intersection of our core practice strengths: energy and power, corporate transactions, regulatory engagement, and dispute resolution. The Firm has been at the forefront of ESG policymaking in India. As advisors to Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), the Firm has been instrumental in assisting BEE in drafting of relevant regulations for energy efficiency and even in amendments to the Energy Conservation Act, 2001. The Firm’s multi-disciplinary ESG practice advises clients across industries and technologies on the full lifecycle of ESG obligations: from policy and compliance to transactions, disclosures, and disputes.

 

India’s ESG Landscape

India is at a regulatory inflection point where environmental law, ESG compliance, and carbon pricing are converging into an unprecedented legal and commercial landscape. Multiple regulators now impose overlapping ESG and environmental obligations on Indian businesses. The Indian Supreme Court’s recognition of the right to be free from the adverse effects of climate change as a fundamental right has further raised the stakes for companies that treat environmental obligations as secondary.

 

Our ESG Practice Offerings

Sarthak’s ESG practice is multi-disciplinary by design. It draws on the Firm’s established expertise in energy law, corporate transactions, regulatory engagement, litigation, and insolvency. We integrate these strengths to serve clients navigating the rapidly evolving intersection of environmental compliance, sustainability governance, and carbon markets.

1. Litigation before Courts and Tribunals: The Firm represents clients in environmental disputes before the Supreme Court of India, High Courts across states, and the National Green Tribunal (NGT). The Firm’s established dispute resolution practice brings strong advocacy to technically complex environmental proceedings.
2. Regulatory Compliance & Authorisations: Indian environmental compliance spans multiple regulators, statutes, and authorisations. The Firm assists clients through the full regulatory lifecycle from assisting in obtaining clearances to managing enforcement.
3. Environmental Due Diligence in Transactions: Environmental risk is a significant and often under-examined component of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), private equity, and project finance transactions. The Firm assists clients in transactions that involve environmental problems, advising on environment-related provisions in transaction documents.
4. Climate Change & Carbon Markets: The Firm advises clients on Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) obligations, Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS) obligations and on the rapidly developing voluntary and compliance carbon market.
5. ESG Governance, Disclosures & Policy Advocacy: The Firm assists clients in complete ESG management from drafting ESG policies in compliance with applicable Indian regulatory standards, to monitoring and advising on applicable ESG standards, and supporting disclosures. The Firm also conducts legal audits of ESG compliance as part of its due diligence support. The Firm applies this capability directly to environmental and ESG policy advocacy.