This is Allens

Working in M&A at the moment feels a little like standing at the prow of an enormous ship, waiting for it to start moving. There's a very clear sense that the market is about to pick up; the macroeconomic factors that were spooking activity have steadied, but we haven't seen the big surge yet.

Markets ebb and flow and that's nothing new in M&A. What's unprecedented in our current market is the near-universal focus on decarbonisation by M&A 'deal doers'. Deals continue to be done in all sectors, but decarbonisation is the undercurrent to almost everything.

The shift to renewable energy required to meet global emissions targets means at its simplest that we need more renewable energy projects, so there will be more developers entering the Australian market who will be hungry for capital for their greenfield projects and looking for buyers for their brownfield projects. For geopolitical reasons we also expect to see an increased demand for critical minerals from stable countries like Australia and that will mean increased interest from investors in Australian critical mining companies. The buying and selling of traditional and green energy sources will, in one way or another, be driving M&A activity for the foreseeable future.

The other global force converging with decarbonisation is the entry of private capital into the market over the past decade or so, which is also largely unprecedented. Private capital has quickly become one of the most important sources of M&A capital in global markets and Australia is no different. We have watched with a degree of shock as the public markets have declined - for example, the ASX shrank by around 2% last year - while private capital continues to go from strength to strength.

Markets ebb and flow and that's nothing new in M&A. What's unprecedented in our current market is the near-universal focus on decarbonisation

Many private capital investors, particularly super funds, are mandated by their clients to pursue a decarbonisation strategy, and as a result they're very active in this space. We've recently seen a number of asset managers double down on decarbonisation, with HMC Capital establishing its new energy transition fund and Macquarie Asset Management launching Aula Energy, a new business focused on long term investment in the renewables sector. Wherever you see targets, you'll see private capital involved, whether in private or public markets.

Our colleagues in Projects often say we haven't got the regulatory settings right to meet renewable energy goals. That's holding up renewable energy project development and investment activity. The interesting shift we're starting to see now is private capital investing directly in greenfields projects. Up until recently private capital has only been deployed in brownfield investments. The lack of early-stage capital investment in decarbonisation has been one of the major barriers to getting projects off the ground, so this shifting risk appetite could be monumental.

M&A is changing – and not just in terms of the types of deals and how they're done. The mix of dealmakers is changing too. We're seeing more and more female lawyers pursue careers in M&A and, in turn, more female partners. We've set a firmwide gender diversity target and we're on track to reach it ahead of schedule. The Allens M&A partners who hold high-profile regulatory roles are all women, with Kate Towey and I sitting on the Takeovers Panel and Wendy Rae chairing the Law Council of Australia's Foreign Investment Committee. It's great to see women occupying such prominent positions.