Background In autumn 2021, individuals affiliated with Deutsche Umwelthilfe, Fridays for Future and Greenpeace filed claims at various German courts against automakers (BMW AG, Mercedes-Benz AG and Volkswagen AG) and Germany’s largest oil and gas company (Wintershall Dea AG). The plaintiffs inter alia requested an order that the automakers are to cease and desist from … Read more

The wait is finally over: On 6 April 2022, the EU Commission adopted the Regulatory Technical Standards (“RTS”) for the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (“SFDR”). Below we have set out our initial thoughts on this text which will be a central working document for the full implementation of SFDR by the financial services industry. Based in part on … Read more

The Taskforce on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) has published the first draft of its Nature-related Risk & Opportunity Management and Disclosure Framework (TNFD Framework); which, together with subsequent drafts, will be open to feedback from market participants for the next 18 months. The TNFD is aiming to publish a usable framework and set of recommendations … Read more

On 2 February 2022 the European Commission approved in principle a Complementary Climate Delegated Act (the “Complementary Delegated Act“) which includes criteria for nuclear and gas energy activities under the EU taxonomy. The Complementary Delegated Act will amend Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2139, which supplements the EU Taxonomy Regulation 2020/852, and provides a set of criteria … Read more

The long-awaited proposals for the EU Green Bond Standard (“EU GBS“) represent one of the biggest developments in the sustainable debt capital markets in the last decade. We first posted about the European Commission’s proposal for an EU GBS regulation in July last year. In December 2021, the rapporteur of the EU GBS file at … Read more

Deforestation and forest degradation are increasing at an alarming rate, exacerbating climate change and biodiversity loss. The increasing use of agricultural land to produce commodities (such as wood, beef, palm oil, soy, cocoa, and coffee) is one of the primary causes of deforestation and forest degradation. As a result, the European Commission has proposed a … Read more

Wider forces have wreaked havoc in global energy markets in 2021, but UK policy has caused additional complications in the UK. In this podcast, Paul Butcher, Director of Public Policy looks at: Read more

As the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26 or the Conference) draws near, the spotlight on international efforts to tackle climate change intensifies. COP26 is an important Conference for many reasons, one of which is that it will be the first Conference at which new and/or updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) will be discussed. WHAT ARE … Read more