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Energy & Climate Counsel

Your one-stop resource for timely analysis of legal and policy developments affecting the energy and climate sectors. We focus on the issues that matter most to you, from federal and state policy and judicial decisions to business trends and financing news.

What Regulators Can’t See: The American Efficient Case and the Future of Demand-Side Oversight
Blog May 28, 2026
What Regulators Can’t See: The American Efficient Case and the Future of Demand-Side Oversight
On April 15, 2026, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) imposed a $722 million civil penalty against American Efficient, LLC (“American Efficient”) and its affiliates in one of the largest enforcement actions in FERC’s history…
Massachusetts Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (CPACE): A New Era on the Horizon?
Blog April 09, 2026
Massachusetts Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (CPACE): A New Era on the Horizon?
Nearly a decade ago, Massachusetts joined many other states in authorizing a Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (CPACE) program called PACE Massachusetts to support energy efficiency and renewable energy investments in commercial real estate…
Navigating the Challenges of Data Center Growth —Part III: Evolving Federal, State, and Local Policy
Blog March 20, 2026
Navigating the Challenges of Data Center Growth —Part III: Evolving Federal, State, and Local Policy
Much of the emerging federal, state and local data center policy focuses on the industry’s impacts on energy affordability…
30 Years of New England Electricity Restructuring Roundtable
Blog December 15, 2025
30 Years of New England Electricity Restructuring Roundtable
On December 5, 2025, Foley Hoag hosted the 30th Anniversary of the New England Electricity Restructuring Roundtable (“Roundtable”), convening leading regulators, executives, and policy experts in the region’s electric power industry to reflect on three decades of market evolution and to chart its future…
Massachusetts Statewide Large Building Energy Reporting Rules Now in Effect
Blog June 12, 2025
Massachusetts Statewide Large Building Energy Reporting Rules Now in Effect
The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) has finalized the regulations implementing the Commonwealth’s Large Building Energy Reporting (LBER) policy, codified at M.G.L. c. 25A, § 20 and detailed in 225 CMR 27.00…
New York Releases Preliminary Outline of Cap-and-Invest Program
Blog December 21, 2023
New York Releases Preliminary Outline of Cap-and-Invest Program
On December 20, 2023, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) released a pre-proposal outline of New York State’s Cap-and-Invest Program and Mandatory Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reporting Program…
New York State Begins Phase-Out of Inefficient Appliances in Effort to Decarbonize Buildings
Blog July 17, 2023
New York State Begins Phase-Out of Inefficient Appliances in Effort to Decarbonize Buildings
One year after the adoption of New York’s Advanced Building Codes, Appliance and Equipment Efficiency Standards Act, New York has new minimum energy efficiency standards for products and appliances…
City of Cambridge Passes Ambitious Net Zero Building Ordinance
Blog June 14, 2023
City of Cambridge Passes Ambitious Net Zero Building Ordinance
On June 26, 2023, the Cambridge City Council voted to amend the city’s Building Energy Use Disclosure Ordinance (BEUDO) to require large non-residential buildings to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 and mid-size non-residential buildings to do so by 2050…
Removing Barriers to Geothermal Heat Pump Deployment in New York
Blog March 14, 2023
Removing Barriers to Geothermal Heat Pump Deployment in New York
A great deal of progress has been made in decarbonizing the power sector through deployment of clean electricity generation technologies such as wind and solar.  But other technologies essential to our efforts to combat climate change, such as geothermal heat pumps, which are critical to decarbonizing buildings (which represented 32 percent of 2019 greenhouse gas emissions in New York State) are only beginning to be deployed at scale.  Additional actions in 2023 to unlock deployment of…
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Foley Hoag’s Energy & Climate Counsel blog aims to be your one-stop resource for timely analysis of legal and policy developments affecting the energy and climate sectors. We focus on the issues that matter most to our readers, from federal and state policy and judicial decisions to business trends and financing news.

Our authors, comprised of attorneys from the firm’s Energy & Climate practice, have been active in the energy and climate space for decades, counseling clients across the spectrum – from new, innovative technology companies to large utility-scale power projects. Recognizing early on the common concerns of the renewable and traditional energy fields, we established one of the first integrated practices to serve all segments of the energy and clean technology sectors. We believe this tight integration provides us with the insight to analyze the pressing issues, trends and opportunities that those in this industry have come to expect.

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