On 19 November 2024, the Council of the European Union (“Council”) adopted a new regulation on environmental, social and governance (ESG) rating activities.1 The new regulation, which was presented by the European Commission on 13 June 2023, aims to make ESG rating activities in the EU more consistent, transparent and comparable.2  This will

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

On October 8 2024, Brazil enacted Federal Law No. 14,993/2024, which stems from Bill No. 528/2020, the “Fuels of the Future Bill.” The new law, which addresses several matters related to decarbonization, provides for the regulation and inspection of activities involving the capture and geological storage of carbon dioxide, also known as CCS (Carbon Capture

Following the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s (“CMA”) recent investigation regarding ‘Green Claims’ in the fashion industry (discussed here), the CMA has now published a Compliance Guide to help fashion businesses “stay on the right side of consumer law”. This is part of the CMA’s “essential” work to ensure consumers can make informed choices based on environmental claims that they can trust.
Continue Reading Time To Tailor Up: Fashion businesses on warning with CMA’s new Compliance Guide for Green Claims

Multinational companies are facing increased pressure to ensure that they have adequate ESG-related policies in place and (more importantly) that they are implementing those policies in practice within both their business and associated supply chains via appropriate systems and controls. Companies that are found not to have implemented or adhered to those policies face increased

On 3 June 2024, the Asia Pacific Loan Market Association (“APLMA”) published its set of “Model Provisions for Green Loans” (“Model Provisions”), following the publication of the “Draft Provisions for Sustainability-Linked Loans” by the London-based Loan Market Association (“LMA”) a year earlier in May 2023. The markets expect that the Model Provisions will bring some clarity into the classification of green loans going forward.Continue Reading APLMA publishes Model Provisions for Green Loans

On 14 May 2024, the European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA“) published its final report on “Guidelines on funds’ names using ESG or sustainability-related terms” (the “Guidelines“). The Guidelines aim to provide fund managers with clear and measurable criteria to assess their ability to use ESG and/or sustainability-related terms

On 20 December 2023, the Council of the EU reached an agreement on its negotiating mandate on a proposal for a regulation on ESG ratings  (the “Proposed EU Regulation“). This builds on the European Commission’s proposal, which was published on 13 June 2023.

The EU’s desire to regulate ESG rating agencies is a response to increasing concerns from a variety of stakeholders about the reliability, comparability and transparency of ESG ratings and the data behind these ratings.Continue Reading Council of the EU agrees on proposal to regulate ESG ratings providers