Yesterday, 10 December 2025, the Council’s presidency and European Parliament’s negotiators reached a provisional agreement to simplify the EU’s sustainability reporting and due diligence requirements. The provisional agreement must be now endorsed by the Council and the European Parliament, before it is formally adopted by the two institutions. However, further changes are unlikely and the
Tim Baines
Tim Baines is a partner in the London environmental and planning team of Mayer Brown. Tim has a particular interest and background in advising companies and financial institutions in the real estate, energy and sustainability sectors. He has considerable knowledge of UK planning and environmental regimes, renewables incentives regimes, and emissions and climate-related matters.
The Summer of ESG
We aren’t half way though August yet and already the Summer of ’25 has been a hot one for corporate sustainability disclosures in the EU and UK.
On 31 July 2025, EFRAG launched its 60-day consultation on the Exposure Drafts of the revised and simplified European Sustainability Reporting Standards (“ESRS”) for those reporting under the…
EBA Proposes Amendments to ESG Reporting Requirements for Banks

On 22 May 2025, the EU banking supervisor The European Banking Authority (EBA) announced the release of several proposed amendments to its Pillar 3 disclosure requirements, previously contemplated under the CRR3 banking package. These amendments clarify ESG risk-related reporting for small and medium-sized banks, as well as expand on the guidelines for larger institutions. Feedback…
What are the top 10 things you need to know about UK CBAM?

The UK government is currently consulting on draft primary legislation establishing a UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (“CBAM”), which is set to come into force from 1 January 2027. The current consultation is limited to ensuring that the draft primary legislation implements the Government’s stated policy intent, rather than seeking further stakeholder comment on the…
EU Delays CSRD and CSDDD Implementation with “Stop-the-Clock” Directive
- CSRD Reporting Delay: The directive postpones CSRD
European Commission Presents “Omnibus” Simplification Package with Amendments to CSRD, CSDDD, CBAM and Taxonomy

Other authors: Dušan Stojković
On 26 February 2025, the European Commission (“Commission”) published its “Omnibus I” or “Sustainability Omnibus” package as part of its mission to improve the competitiveness of the European Union. The Omnibus Package foresees changes to several EU instruments pertaining to sustainability reporting under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (“CSRD”)…
COP-29: Progress in the Operationalization of the International Carbon Credit Market

On November 11, 2024, one of the first substantive outcomes of the 29th Session of the UN Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) was approved. The President of COP19 introduced a draft decision of the Conference of the Parties Serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the…
UK National Audit Office Publishes Overview of New Government’s approach to Environment and Climate Change
On 15 October, the UK’s independent public spending watchdog (the National Audit Office or NAO) published its overview of the Government’s approach to the three areas of environmental improvement, net zero and climate change adaptation.
The report provides a high-level critique of Government programmes to date on these three interrelated areas emphasising the scale of…
Great British Energy Bill

On 3 September 2024, the UK Government published its factsheet on the Great British Energy Bill which received its Second Reading in the House of Commons on 5 September.
The purpose of the Bill is to establish a publicly-owned energy company designed to drive clean energy deployment and support the UK Government’s aim of decarbonising…
The European Commission publishes FAQs on the implementation of the EU corporate sustainability reporting rules
On 7 August 2024, the European Commission published a set of frequently asked questions on the implementation of the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (Directive (EU) 2022/2464) (“CSRD“) and the interpretation of certain legal provisions in the Accounting Directive (Directive 2013/34/EU), the Transparency Directive (Directive 2004/109/EC) and the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (Regulation…