On 16 May 2024, the UK Government published an implementation update on its development of economy-wide sustainability disclosure requirements (the “Implementation Update“). The Implementation Update, which the UK Government committed to publishing in its 2023 Green Finance Strategy (which you can read more about here), discusses:

  1. its endorsement of the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards;
  2. transition plan disclosures;
  3. the Financial Conduct Authority’s (“FCA“) Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (“SDR“) and investment labels regime;
  4. the UK Green Taxonomy; and
  5. nature-related disclosures.

Continue Reading UK government publishes implementation update in relation to sustainability disclosures

On March 25, 2024, the Brazilian federal government published Decree No. 11.961/2024, establishing an advisory and deliberative group, the Brazilian Sustainable Taxonomy Interinstitutional Committee (“CITSB”), which will coordinate the development and implementation of the Brazilian Sustainable Taxonomy (“TSB”). The TSB will establish a classification system for sustainable projects and activities, providing standardized terminology for companies

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) launched the Singapore-Asia Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance (the “Singapore-Asia Taxonomy”) at the COP28 climate conference on 3 December 2023. This development is noteworthy as the Singapore-Asia Taxonomy is the world’s first multi-sector transition taxonomy for defining green and transition activities across eight key sectors, namely: (1) energy; (2) industrial; (3) carbon capture and sequestration; (4) agriculture and forestry; (5) construction and real estate; (6) waste and circular economy; (7) information and communications technology; and (8) transportation. The Singapore-Asia Taxonomy uses the traffic lights system of “green” (environmentally sustainable), “amber” (transition) and “ineligible” to classify activities based on their contribution to the taxonomy’s environmental objectives, currently focused on climate change mitigation. We previously reported on the work leading up to the finalisation of the Singapore-Asia Taxonomy here and here.Continue Reading Singapore Launches World’s First Multi-Sector Transition Taxonomy

What is a taxonomy anyway?

The EU’s “Taxonomy” is a classification framework that determines whether an economic activity is environmentally sustainable.  

Under EU legislation, “large” EU companies will soon need to report on their taxonomy “alignment” as part of their mandatory sustainability disclosures.  This means, at risk of oversimplifying, reporting on the extent to which

Brazil’s draft Sustainable Taxonomy Action Plan (the Action Plan), prepared by the Ministry of Finance, is currently under public consultation and receiving contributions and comments for its improvement. The deadline for taking part in the public consultation is October 20, 2023.

The development of a sustainable taxonomy seeks to address Brazil’s main environmental and social

On 27 July 2023, the International Sustainability Standards Board (the “ISSB”) published the Proposed IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Taxonomy for public consultation. The IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Taxonomy, which follows the ISSB’s issuance of the IFRS sustainability disclosure standards (the “Standards”) (which we reported here), is a digital taxonomy designed to facilitate digital reporting of sustainability-related financial information and to improve accessibility and comparability of such information by investors and regulators globally. Notably, the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Taxonomy is not a taxonomy for categorising sustainability ratings or attributes of specific activities such as the EU taxonomy for sustainable activities.Continue Reading ISSB Publishes IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Taxonomy for Consultation