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
On 2 October 2024, the European Commission (“Commission”) made public its proposal to postpone application of the EU Deforestation Regulation (“EUDR”), by way of an amendment to the EUDR that would postpone (a) its date of entry into application from 30 December 2024 to 30 December 2025 (and till 30 June
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
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
On September 16, 2024, Brazil’s Attorney General filed a lawsuit seeking compensation for climate damage resulting from environmental infractions allegedly perpetrated by livestock farmers inside a Conservation Unit, more specifically the Jamanxim National Park, located in the Amazon Rainforest.
In Brazil, a Conservation Unit is a type of specially protected area, legally established by public
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
On July 15, 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom proposed amendments that would, among other things, delay initial reporting deadlines for two of California’s recently enacted climate-related disclosure laws by two years.
Governor Newsom signed the two bills, Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (California Senate Bill 253 (SB-253)), relating to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions disclosures, and the
On 24 July 2024, the European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA“) published an opinion on the sustainable finance regulatory framework (the “ESMA Opinion“), which outlines the ESMA’s long-term vision for the functioning of the EU’s sustainable finance framework (the “Framework“). The ESMA Opinion builds on the findings of the
A major overhaul of the UK’s planning (zoning) system was unveiled on 30 July. This is aimed at tackling the UK’s chronic housing shortage, as well as the challenge of net zero. The lack of affordable housing in the south-east of England, for example, means that average house prices there are ten times the average wage. At the same time, public sector housebuilding has slowed to a trickle and rents have soared. Similarly, the planning system has been identified as a major block on renewables and low-carbon developments in the UK.
In response, the new UK Government has announced significant changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (“NPPF“) which guides decision-making on individual planning applications as well as the content of local planning policies (against which applications for individual sites are assessed). The main aim is to kick-start an unprecedented programme of housebuilding with a huge proposed target of 371,000 per year against current delivery of about 200,000 units per year. There will also be increased requirements on developers to provide affordable housing on new housing developments. Commentary so far has rightly focused on these important housing-related changes in the draft NPPF, but the draft NPPF goes much further than housing. Specific focus is given to renewables and low-carbon projects, digital technology, gigafactories, laboratories and logistics.
In this briefing, we summarise the main proposed changes in the draft NPPF and identify further likely upcoming reforms to be made to the planning system including through the new Planning and Infrastructure Bill. Continue Reading UK planning reforms to focus on social developments and net zero
Deforestation is now the second leading cause of climate change globally, after burning fossil fuels, and is responsible for around 11% of all greenhouse gas emissions. In the last 60 years more than half of tropical forests worldwide have been destroyed, reducing biodiversity and endangering rare species (see Fifth Special Report of Session – 2023-24: