Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

Baker McKenzie has elevated Sydney-based climate change partner Ilona Millar to global head of climate change, at a time when climate change practices are growing as clients try to navigate issues that climate change raises for their business operations. 

Millar has worked for 20 years on climate law and finance, including the development of law and policy and its implementation by both governments and the private sector, as well as on the development of carbon contracts, carbon funds and carbon transactions in both the compliance and voluntary markets.

She also has expertise in advising on natural carbon sinks, which store carbon-containing chemical compounds and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, as well as in forest-based carbon transactions and geological sequestration and the legal frameworks for carbon capture and storage, Baker McKenzie said in a statement.

"Ilona is supremely placed to take our market-leading practice forward in an increasingly urgent area for all businesses, globally," said José Antonio Morán, who chairs the firm's global energy, mining and infrastructure practice group. "She has long recognised and answered the needs of clients in changing the way they operate and has helped them successfully navigate the vast array of issues climate change raises for their business operations."

Ilona Millar

Morán said a sustainable future requires that companies meet the challenges that climate change presents and translate them into market opportunities, while mitigating the many risks associated with simply remaining in a state of 'business as usual'.

"Baker McKenzie has always been at the forefront of advising companies around the globe on what it means for both their business and their industry," he said.

Millar said she was "honoured" to take on the role.

"I am excited to lead a team of highly talented and experienced climate change law practitioners, who have long been innovating in a space that continues to be the greatest challenge we face as both a society and global business community," she said.

Prior to joining Baker McKenzie in 2008, Millar worked at the Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development in London. She is also a former principal solicitor of the Environmental Defender's Office in Sydney.