On May 12, 2022, Singapore’s Green Finance Industry Taskforce (GFIT) published a second consultation paper on its proposed taxonomy for Singapore-based financial institutions (“Singapore Taxonomy”), which aims to provide a common framework for classification of economic activities upon which financial products and services can be built and combat greenwashing by setting
The European Commission recently published a series of documents in the context of the Green Deal initiative. One of these is a proposal for a directive on consumer empowerment. With this proposal, the Commission seeks to deliver on its promise to ensure consumers have access to reliable, comparable and verifiable information on products to allow
On April 7, 2022, the federal government of Canada released its Budget 2022 (Budget), which includes significant measures by the Canadian government to build its Net-Zero Economy and to fight climate change. In the Budget, the Canadian government is committed to move towards mandatory reporting of climate-related financial risks across a broad spectrum of Canadian economy, based on the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework. The new reporting requirements will be applicable to, among others, federally regulated banks and insurers, which “play a prominent role in shaping Canada’s economy” – as noted in the Budget.
Continue Reading Canada to Impose Mandatory Climate Disclosures on Banks and Insurers
In the latest of a series of actions by the Biden-Harris administration aimed at reducing the federal government’s carbon footprint, the US General Services Administration (GSA) has issued new national standards for the concrete and asphalt used in GSA building and paving projects.1 The standards apply to concrete and asphalt provided by GSA’s prime contractors, furthering efforts to prioritize carbon-reduction in federal contracting and to leverage the federal government’s purchasing power in support of the transition to a zero-carbon economy. GSA plans to use these standards for all GSA projects involving at least 10 cubic yards of concrete or asphalt, including GSA projects carried out under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.2
Continue Reading Clean Slate: US GSA Issues New Standards for Environmental Attributes of Concrete and Asphalt
“Greenwashing” – that is, environmental claims that are not fully or properly substantiated, or that contain false information, omit critical information, are exaggerated or are presented in an unclear, ambiguous and/or inaccurate manner – continues to be a major focus of scrutiny across all sectors, and the advertising industry is no exception. The volume of statements and claims regarding the sustainability credentials of businesses’ goods and services, often made in the context of advertising and marketing, is increasing rapidly.
At the same time, the interests of regulators, consumers, and other stakeholders, in combatting misleading, “greenwashed” environmental claims has grown commensurately. According to analysis conducted by the Independent, over the past 12 months alone, the UK’s Advertising Standards Agency (“ASA“) has found 16 advertising campaigns to have exaggerated the green credentials of, or made unsubstantiated environmental claims about, the advertised brands.
As a consequence of this growing interest, the World Federation of Advertisers (“WFA“) – a global organisation that represents the common interests of advertisers and marketers – has issued landmark guidance on how brands can ensure that any environmental claims featured in their marketing communications are credible for both consumers and regulators (the “Guidance“). The Guidance, produced with the support of the International Council for Advertising Self-Regulation, the European Advertising Standards Alliance and the UK’s ASA (amongst others), is the first guidance that has been issued at an international level with regard to making environmental claims, and represents a highly significant development in the context of growing efforts to combat greenwashing.
In 2017, following multiple legislative proposals and lengthy negotiations, France became the first EU Member State to adopt a cross-sectoral law on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence (the “French Law“). At the time the French Law was adopted, it was highly criticized, in part because France appeared to be going “out on a limb” and a broader international response was felt to be necessary.
This February, an important step towards an EU-wide Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence legal framework was taken with the Proposal of the EU Commission for a Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence (the “EU Proposal“). This follows legislative developments in individual EU Member States mandating human rights and environment due diligence in supply chains – see our previous blog posts on national HREDD movements in Germany and the Netherlands, for example.
On March 21, 2022, the Brazilian Government launched a new package of incentive measures seeking to stimulate programs and actions to reduce methane emissions, particularly through development of biogas and biomethane initiatives. The new package – called Federal Strategy of Incentive to the Sustainable Use of Biogas and Biomethane – includes the Methane Zero National Program and is aligned with the commitments made by Brazil in the context of COP26, the Global Methane Pledge and other domestic regulatory efforts, such as the National Policy on Waste Management.
Continue Reading Brazil launches Methane Zero National Program with a package of incentive measures to biogas and biomethane
Amidst the recent uptrend of climate litigation cases in Brazil, the Brazilian Supreme Court has scheduled for March 30, 2022 a trial session covering several different lawsuits involving the protection of the environment and effects on climate change. This is an important milestone for the Brazilian climate litigation landscape, as this is the first time a Supreme Court session will be exclusively dedicated to climate-themed cases.
Continue Reading Brazilian Supreme Court Climate Litigation Day: Justices to Decide Several Climate Litigation Cases on March 30
On March 21, 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted 3:1, with only Commissioner Hester Peirce dissenting, to propose long-awaited rules that, if adopted, would require extensive reporting by public companies of climate change-related disclosure and related attestation (the “Proposal”). Comments on the Proposal are due 30 days after
The recent publication, on 27 February 2022, of the second instalment to the Sixth Assessment Report of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (“IPCC“) did not receive the same degree of attention as the first instalment in August 2021. The findings, and message, of the second instalment, are no less severe, or potentially consequential, however, delivering as it does, the “bleakest warning yet” of the impacts of climate change.
The first instalment, developed by the IPCC’s Working Group I, focused on the physical science basis of climate change. The second instalment, developed by the IPCC’s Working Group II, assesses the impacts of climate change, looking at ecosystems, biodiversity and human communities at global and regional levels.
The findings of the IPCC are, of course, deeply troubling in many respects, and the implications of those findings are likely to be extensive. One area in which those implications are likely to be felt is that of climate litigation. As explored in our previous article, the science based findings of the IPCC have played a role in affirming international legal standards on climate change and establishing the link between emissions and climate change, thereby – in some respects – strengthening the cases of climate litigants who may previously have encountered difficulties in establishing causation. The ever-increasing urgency of the climate crisis, and the willingness – and ability – of stakeholders to use litigation to compel action to address that crisis, will continue to be features of the landscape as attention focuses on the IPCC’s findings.