As nearly 200 nations descend on Glasgow from 1 November for the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26), the UN-backed forum for tackling climate change, the annual summit will be a defining moment in the battle to mobilise states and policymakers. The first COP to assess government climate plans submitted under the Paris Agreement, the … Read more

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released its 2021 AR6 climate change report (Report), as well as a summary for policy leaders. The Report addresses the current understanding of the climate system and climate change as well as the future possibilities of what could occur. In early 2022, the IPCC plans … Read more

For decades, pressure has been building on the energy sector to decarbonise. In 2020, we witnessed a paradigm shift in the sector. Offering investors a low carbon future Pressure to decarbonize has been driven by growing evidence and awareness of the link between burning hydrocarbons and climate change, and the prevalence of hydrocarbons in our … Read more

For some time, it has been recognised that climate related risks should figure in long term planning for all organisations. There is now increasing appreciation of the extent to which climate change considerations are important to business decision making today, encompassing the physical changes to the environment resulting from climate change, and the transitional risks … Read more

On 18 June 2020,  the European Parliament adopted the regulation on the establishment of a framework to facilitate sustainable investment[1] (the Taxonomy Regulation), a milestone in the EU’s Action Plan on Sustainable Finance (the Action Plan). It has since been published in the Official Journal and entered into force on 12 July 2020. The EU-wide green taxonomy set out … Read more

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has recently published its White Paper on Green and Sustainable Banking, as well as a circular to share a range of practices adopted by major authorised institutions (AIs) for managing climate risks (7 July Circular). These form part of a series of initiatives by the HKMA that are intended to help shape a greener and more climate-resilient banking system. … Read more

On 5 May 2020, five financial regulators and two government bureaux published a joint statement to announce the establishment of the Green and Sustainable Finance Cross-Agency Steering Group to drive green and sustainable finance policy in Hong Kong. Read more

In a 2019 global survey, 1,250 CEOs rated environmental / climate change risk the single biggest threat to business growth.1 The race is on for businesses to understand their environmental impact and to manage the legal risks to succeed in a lower-carbon future. Our report, which gathers insights from our global experts, considers the political, … Read more