CRE Carbon Reduction Mandates in U.S. Cities: The Current and Future Landscape

David Amerikaner is a member of Duane Morris’ Real Estate Practice Group and focuses his practice on land use, project development, environmental law, eminent domain, and sustainability.

Mr. Amerikaner advises developers, energy companies, and other large users of land through the process of obtaining permits and approvals to develop their land.  This practice includes representation before local and state planning commissions, boards, councils, agencies, and other decision-makers, as well as outreach to and negotiation with project opponents.  Mr. Amerikaner’s experience spans several states and local jurisdictions, particularly the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and other environmental and municipal regulations in California.  He also handles litigation matters that arise from land development.

Mr. Amerikaner handles eminent domain matters for utilities seeking to condemn private properties for public use, and on behalf of private property owners whose properties have been condemned.  He also represents private property owners in tax assessment appeals.

Mr. Amerikaner regularly counsels private equity firms, banks, sovereign wealth funds, and other entities on the environmental aspects of corporate transactions.  He is experienced in performing due diligence, negotiating and drafting contractual provisions, and providing strategic advice in the context of mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, debt and equity financing, real estate transactions, and project finance.

Mr. Amerikaner has an active practice in the field of environmental commodities, including advising clients on the generation and trading of carbon credits and various types of mitigation credits.  He also counsels clients on reducing their carbon footprints and complying with environmental mitigation requirements, on both voluntary and mandatory bases.

In addition, Mr. Amerikaner maintains a robust pro bono practice, including work on behalf of disadvantaged individuals related to land use, government approvals, real estate transactions, immigration, and Holocaust reparations.

Mr. Amerikaner is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. He is a former advisory board member of the Trust for Public Land New York State Chapter, and is active in fundraising and team building for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.  Mr. Amerikaner is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School and Harvard University, and also received a master’s degree in Education Leadership from Teachers College at Columbia University.

Rachel is based in Houston and is responsible for business development, marketing activities and managing a growing originations team.

She began her career at Reliant Energy, a Houston based provider of electricity and smart energy services. As a Marketing Manager, she spent 12 years working with customers and consultants managing commodity price risk through electricity contracts in Texas and the Northeast. Most recently, Rachel led a national business development team for NRG Energy, a Fortune 200 energy company, where along with her team, she pursued partnerships for onsite/offsite solar, wind, community solar, energy efficiency and combined heat and power systems with Fortune 500 clients. Additionally, she worked with strategic partner firms in the energy efficiency sector to develop and implement sales acquisition strategies for thermal energy storage and evaporative pre-cooling solutions for utility programs in California.

Rachel graduated with honors from Texas A&M University with a BBA in Marketing.

Scott Lemoine is the Lead ESG Advisor at Measurabl, overseeing the North American Advisory Services division. With over ten years of experience in sustainability and ESG strategy consulting, Scott has worked extensively with both public and private real estate owners and operators. His expertise spans the entire ESG program lifecycle, encompassing long-term strategy development, stakeholder engagement, building decarbonization, and reporting.

As the former Corporate Responsibility Manager at CBRE, Scott was instrumental in managing the company's net zero strategy development, greenhouse gas inventory, and ESG reporting functions.

Before joining CBRE, he spent five years at Verdani Partners, where he designed, implemented, and managed ESG and sustainability programs.

Scott earned his MSc in Sustainability from the University of Sydney and his BS in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He holds certifications as a Certified Energy Manager, LEED Accredited Professional, and Fitwel Ambassador.