Mathias Dantin
Mathias specialises in the regulatory and transactional aspects of energy and infrastructure deals and projects in France and emerging markets.
Mathias is a highly experienced energy, natural resources and infrastructure law expert who has a particular focus on the fast-changing energy transition and helping the firm's clients – who include project developers, lenders, traders, investors, offtakers and corporates – on their pathways to decarbonization (eg through their energy procurement, offtake, project development and construction activities etc).
His practice also covers regulatory advice in these sectors and assisting clients on their litigation and pre-litigation strategies for regulatory and public procurement matters before the administrative courts in France, the European Union and Francophone Africa.
Mathias' experience spans green hydrogen, biofuels, e-fuels, biogas, renewable heat, electric vehicle charging stations and carbon capture. Mathias also supports the firm's clients on the acquisition of green commodities (Corporate Power Purchase Agreements, Biogas Purchase Agreements, biogenic carbon, etc), certificates such as Guarantees of Origin and White Certificates, and investments in Voluntary Carbon Markets.
Mathias is a key member of the firm's cross-practice ESG team.
Mathias is ranked as a Next Generation Partner for Energy - Regulatory and Public Law by Legal 500 EMEA 2024 and as a "Up and Coming" lawyer for France: Projects & Energy – Domestic by Chambers Europe 2024. He has also been regularly cited in the Legal 500 Green Guide since its launch in 2022, and was named as a Rising Star for Energy, Natural Resources and Mining at the IFLR Rising Stars Awards EMEA 2022.
Client accolades include "Mathias Dantin is brilliant, very fast and efficient. We can count on him to have a strategic vision of subjects" (Legal 500 EMEA 2024 – France: Administrative and Public Law); "Mathias Dantin possesses excellent knowledge of the energy sector" (Legal 500 EMEA 2024 – France: Energy); "Mathias Dantin allowed us to understand the context of the market well." (Chambers Europe 2024 - France: Projects & Energy); and "He is a very powerful person intellectually and he is fast. He understands the issues quickly, he finds his way around the rapidly changing and evolving regulations very well. He's really up to date with what's going on and with current trends." (Thomson Reuters Standout Lawyer Survey 2022).
Background
Mathias is admitted to the Paris and New York Bars. He holds an LL.M from the University of Minnesota, Professional Masters degrees in Business law/tax and a Master 1 in public business law from the Magistère Droit Public de Affaires, University of Lyon III.
Mathias is a Visiting Lecturer at the Master 2 dedicated to energy at the University of Aix-Marseille.
Memberships
- co-founder of Association Française pour les Émissions Négatives (AFEN)
- Pôle Avenia (French competitiveness hub for subsurface industries)
- Syndicat des Énergies Renouvelables (SER)
- Je Décarbone (an industrial decarbonization initiative)
Recent Publications
- "Decarbonization - Europe facing its new frontier - how to overcome the obstacles?", Le Magazine des Affaires, 13 May 2024
- "What role can procurement services play in helping their companies' to advance their decarbonisation strategies?" - Décideurs TV, April 2024
- "How can industrials advance decarbonisation through clean electricity procurement", Tribune LSA Green, 27 February 2024 "The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism", HSF Newsletter, October 2023
- Co-author of the France chapter of the Herbert Smith Freehills European Energy Handbook
- Author of the France Chapter, Indepth Feature, Energy Sector 2023 , Financier Worldwide Energy, August 2023
- Cahiers de Droit de l’Entreprise n° 2, March-April 2023: Co-Editor of the special feature which discussed the energy price crisis and decarbonization, and co-author of 3 articles which discussed respectively "Corporate Power Purchase Agreements"; "Voluntary carbon credits: good intentions are not enough"; and "Tension on the network: load shedding, a new threat?"
- Contributor over several years to the International Energy and Natural Resources Law chapter of The Year in Review, an annual survey of the law from around the world published by the American Bar Association (ABA), by writing on recent legal developments in the energy and mining sectors in each of Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Morocco and Senegal (Mathias has been contributing to this publication since 2016)
Experience & expertise
Selected matters
- multiple projects for the development of gigafactories with green ambitions (electric vehicle batteries, green steel, rare earths recycling, solar panels, etc)
- multiple corporate clients on their decarbonization strategies, including Guarantees of Origin, solarisation of their assets, etc
- multiple clients on the negotiation of over 1 GWp of capacity through virtual or physical Corporate Power Purchase Agreements (CPPAs) / battery storage aggregation, including the largest CPPA framework agreement ever signed in France (350MWc, between Renault & Voltalia - winner of the IJGlobal ESG Award 2023 for industrial impact)
- multiple clients on their subsurface activities in France including geothermal, extractive (notably lithium), gas storage and carbon storage, including handling over 70 administrative disputes related to French mining permits and regulation
- multiple clients on offshore wind projects, including developers, investors and the French TSO (RTE), as well as multiple developers on the development and operation of electricity interconnector projects between the UK and France
- multiple renewable hydrogen developers on their projects, from energy and biogenic carbon procurement to hydrogen offtake
- a corporate on the development of ultra-fast electric vehicle charging infrastructure (over 150kW) (IRVEs) accessible to all electric vehicles in France, including advising on the contractual structures and negotiations of the key agreements (from supply to the framework agreement)
- the lenders to Amarenco on the first financing of a standalone battery energy storage project in France, a lithium-ion battery storage project located in Saucatsin the Gironde region (the "Claudia" project), which is currently one of Europe's largest battery storage projects and the largest such project to date in France, including a full review/comments on all of the project agreements
- a French investment fund on its potential investments on the voluntary carbon markets (VCM) in the EU and/or globally, involving (i) the drafting of a legal memorandum related to the legal analysis of such VCMs (identifying actors, legal issues, tax aspects etc); and (ii) the creation of French-law governed VERPA documentation and the negotiation of this documentation for nature-based projects in South America
- EDF, International Finance Corporation and Government of Cameroon (as an investor) on the development and financing of the Nachtigal hydroelectric project (420MW) in Cameroon, which is one of the largest hydro independent power projects planned in Africa. Advice included the drafting and negotiation of the power purchase agreement, concession agreement, grid agreements and EPC contracts for the dam and a 80km long power line, as well as complex finance arrangements involving multiple DFIs and commercial banks (Multilateral Deal of the Year 2018, PFI Awards; African Power Deal of the Year 2018, IJGlobal Awards)
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