Areas of Practice

Industries

Client Results

Swiss Carbon Fund Meets its Transaction Targets

Education

J.D., cum laude, Temple University Law School, 1997
M.A., Princeton University Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, 1996 (Managing Editor, Journal of Public and International Affairs)
B.A., Haverford College, 1989

Bar and Court Admissions

District of Columbia
New Jersey

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Kyle W. Danish

Member

Print PDF 1050 Thomas Jefferson Street, NW
Seventh Floor
Washington DC 20007
TEL: 202.298.1876
kwd@vnf.com

Kyle Danish advises a range of clients on environmental and energy matters, with a special focus on corporate climate strategy, emissions trading-related transactions, and regulation under the Clean Air Act. His clients include electric generation, oil and gas, and mineral exploration companies, financial institutions, offset providers, manufacturers, industry coalitions, and think tanks.

Mr. Danish provides counsel to the Coalition for Emission Reduction Projects, a group of companies advocating for offsets as a part of a U.S. system regulating greenhouse gas emissions. The Coalition consists of companies from the energy, manufacturing, financial, and agricultural sectors. For more information, please see www.uscerp.org.

Mr. Danish was the only U.S. attorney recognized in the first band of worldwide climate change attorneys in Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business 2009, and one of only three attorneys listed in the first band of national climate change lawyers in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business 2009.

In 2009, Washingtonian magazine identified Mr. Danish as a "Top Lawyer" for environmental law. In addition, Super Lawyers magazine selected Mr. Danish as a Washington, D.C. "Super Lawyer" in the fields of environment; energy and natural resources; and governmental relations.

Mr. Danish was profiled in the September/October 2009 issue of The Environmental Forum, see here.

He is a frequent speaker and has published numerous articles on global warming and emissions trading issues. Mr. Danish also has authored several commissioned research papers on climate change and energy policy. For a complete list of Mr. Danish’s presentations and publications, please click here.

Representative Matters

For a natural gas pipeline company, analyzing the potential exposure of the company to regulation under Federal climate change legislation;
Counseling on emissions trading transactions in South America, Southeast Asia, and Africa under the Kyoto Protocol Clean Development Mechanism;
Analyzing a multinational energy company’s potential exposure to evolving U.S. climate change laws and policies;
Serving as lead counsel to PowerTree Carbon Company, a carbon fund that invests in forest sequestration projects in the United States for two dozen electric power companies;
Assisting a U.S. electric power company in development of a shareholder report on the company’s risks and opportunities from climate change laws and policies;
Advising a multinational energy company on development of a new corporate position on global warming and on a related outreach and advocacy strategy;
Counseling a multinational chemical manufacturing company on the company’s potential risks and emissions trading opportunities under the Kyoto Protocol;
Successfully represented two electric power companies in litigation in 2008 regarding EPA's Clean Air Interstate Rule;
Advising a cleantech company on potential impacts to its business of U.S. climate change policy;
Represented owners of a waste-to-energy company in the sale of the company to a carbon fund;
Provides regulatory counsel to a leading financial on carbon asset investments in the U.S.

Government Service

Special Assistant, Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources, 1990-1992

Professional and Civic Affiliations

American Bar Association
Adjunct Faculty Member, American University School of Law
Associate Editor, Carbon & Climate Law Review
Program Vice Chair, American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources Keystone Conference on Environmental Law, 2007
Co-Chair, American Bar Association Committee on Climate Change and Sustainable Development, 2001-2003

Honors & Distinctions

Best Lawyers in America; Environmental Law; 2011
Chambers Global; Climate Change; 2008-2010
Chambers USA; Climate Change; 2008-2010

Publications

“Global Climate Change,” in Clean Air Handbook (3^rd ed.), American Bar Association (J. Domike ed. forthcoming 2010) (with T. Carbonell and K. Gallagher).

“International Offsets and U.S. Climate Legislation,” 40 Environmental Law Reporter 10610 (June 2010) (with M. Ceronsky)

“Second-best World,” Trading Carbon (May 2010) (with T. Carbonell)

“Offsets in the Emerging US Cap-and-Trade Programmes,” in Legal Aspects of Carbon Trading: Kyoto, Copenhagen, and Beyond, Oxford University Press (D. Freestone and C. Streck eds 2009).

“Designing a Mandatory Domestic Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program for the U.S.,” Pew Center on Global Climate Change (2003) (with R. Nordhaus)

Articles

Speaking Engagements

Environmental Markets Association Webinar: The American Power Act Briefing, May 18, 2010
Environmental Markets Summit, April 25, 2010