PRESIDENT
Carbon Finance Strategies LLC, Boston, MA
John is a graduate of Brown University and Boston University School of Law. His vision as the founder of Carbon Finance Strategies LLC - an integrated environmental financial services company to address all facets of GHG-related deal structuring and risk-management - derives from a broad range of experience in environmental law, commercial litigation, insurance and environmental consulting. He has worked with commercial stakeholders in countries like the Ukraine, Russia and China to connect Western capital with portfolios of GHG emission reduction projects. He has adapted his expertise in the Superfund Liability Take-out area to help manage the risks of forward-traded project-derived emission reduction credits under the Kyoto Protocol. He developed a precedent-setting program for designing, underwriting and procuring insurance from top-rated international companies to mitigate business risks associated with climate change, including “guaranteeing” the future delivery of carbon credits under the Kyoto Protocol.
John began practicing law in Boston, primarily as an environmental attorney. He soon was intensely involved in the interaction among litigation, transactions, government/community relations, and issues management for trade or business organizations. He was a founding partner at Perkins, Smith, Arata, & Howard, a 20-lawyer firm specializing in environmental law, insurance law and civil litigation, as well as labor, legislative, commercial, corporate, tax and securities matters. His concentration was in environmental/insurance law and business litigation, with a focus on complex “Brownfield” projects involving remediation and re-development of contaminated industrial or commercial properties. He also served as a mediator.
In 1997 John was recruited to Washington DC, as President of a specialized environmental risk management consulting firm affiliated with the law firm Howrey & Simon, specializing in technical support for transactions involving contaminated commercial or industrial real estate sites, including portfolios of sites. He designed and implemented business development strategies to promote the firm’s risk analysis and information management services, helping clients analyze and present environmental information to meet the standards of insurance underwriters, financiers and the SEC.
In January 2000 John joined AIG Environmental, the leading national provider of environmental insurance programs, to direct national business development at the Fortune 1000 level. He later established the specialty-consulting firm Liability Resolution Strategies, LLC to design and implement integrated insurance-backed legal/financial strategies to manage environmental risks and liabilities, including then-emerging “climate change” risks. Since 2004, John has been involved in structuring deals to minimize the risks of international emissions trading, primarily under the EU/ETS and the Kyoto Protocol.
John also has experience in the commercial aviation sector. He worked for the Federal Aviation Administration as a legislative attorney, with the Air Transport Association as Manager of Public Affairs Services, and the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) as a deputy general counsel. He was appointed by the governor of Massachusetts to the Board of Directors of Massport.
