Australian Update - Guide to Sustainable Collaborations – ACCC - On 8 July 2024, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) published a draft guide on Sustainability collaborations and Australian competition law...more
On 22 August 2024, the Senate passed the Treasury Laws Amendment (Financial Market Infrastructure and Other Measures) Bill 2024 (the Bill), which requires certain organisations to make mandatory climate-related financial...more
On 15 September 2021, Australia, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US) (each a member State) announced AUKUS as a new security partnership that will promote a free and open Indo-Pacific that is secure and...more
Mining companies are one step closer to being subject to the changes of the first comprehensive review of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (the JORC Code or the...more
Australian Update - Proposed Code of Practice to Reduce Modern Slavery Through Lending, Investment and Asset Management - The New South Wales (NSW) Anti-Slavery Commissioner (Commissioner) recently released its discussion...more
8/20/2024
/ Agribusiness ,
Anti-Slavery Commissioner ,
ASIC ,
Australia ,
Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Forced Labor ,
Greenwashing ,
Investors ,
Popular ,
Sustainable Finance
Australian Update - Australia and EU Enter Into Critical and Strategic Minerals Partnership - On 28 May 2024, Australia and the European Union (EU) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a bilateral partnership to...more
7/5/2024
/ Amended Regulation ,
Australia ,
Climate Change ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Greenwashing ,
Minerals ,
Natural Gas ,
Natural Resources ,
Oil & Gas ,
Supply Chain ,
Sustainability ,
Sustainable Business Practices ,
Sustainable Finance
Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” was one of the highest grossing music tours of all time with approximate proceeds exceeding US$1 billion. While this is a monumental feat, Taylor Swift also gained negative attention during the tour...more
6/26/2024
/ ASIC ,
Australia ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Carbon Off-Set Credits ,
Clean Energy ,
Climate Change ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Net Zero ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Sustainability ,
Sustainable Business Practices
The Australian Government has recently announced proposed measures to support the production of hydrogen in Australia utilising renewable energy. These include a new hydrogen production tax incentive and are estimated to...more
AUSTRALIAN UPDATE - Updated Bill to Introduce Climate-Related Financial Reporting Regime - Background - The Australian Government released the first reading draft of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Financial Market...more
5/29/2024
/ ASIC ,
Australia ,
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) ,
Clean Energy ,
Climate Change ,
Energy Projects ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Greenwashing ,
Investors ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Sustainability ,
Sustainable Finance
Australian Update - Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Enforcement Priorities for 2024-2025 - The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has announced its enforcement and compliance priorities for...more
4/26/2024
/ ASIC ,
Australia ,
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) ,
Climate Change ,
Competition ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Green Bonds ,
Greenwashing ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Small Business ,
Supply Chain ,
Sustainability ,
Sustainable Finance
Australia welcomes new business and foreign investment by providing a strong economy, a stable political environment and a skilled and talented workforce. Our comprehensive guide to Doing Business in Australia has been...more
4/19/2024
/ ASIC ,
Australia ,
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) ,
Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) ,
Board of Directors ,
Business Development ,
Business Entities ,
Capital Gains Tax ,
Competition ,
Copyright ,
Corporate Governance ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Digital Assets ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
FinTech ,
Foreign Corporations ,
Foreign Investment ,
Foreign Ownership ,
Franchises ,
Franchisors ,
Immigration ,
Income Taxes ,
Insolvency ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Investment Funds ,
Investors ,
Joint Venture ,
Limited Partnerships ,
Modern Slavery Act ,
National Security ,
Notice Requirements ,
Partnerships ,
Patents ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Securities ,
Sole Proprietorship ,
Supply Chain ,
Tax Rates ,
Thin Capitalization ,
Trademarks ,
Trusts ,
Venture Capital
Overview - The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) Corporate Governance Council (Council) has recently released its consultation materials for the proposed 5th Edition of the Corporate Governance Council Principles and...more
4/18/2024
/ Annual Reports ,
Australia ,
Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) ,
CEOs ,
CFOs ,
Code of Conduct ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Proposed Amendments
Australian Update - Australian Securities and Investments Commission Continues Greenwashing Enforcement Efforts - On 28 February 2024, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) reported that an outsourced...more
4/2/2024
/ ASIC ,
Australia ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Greenwashing ,
Investment ,
Minerals ,
Misleading Statements ,
Natural Resources ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Supply Chain ,
Sustainability
Australian Update - Draft Legislation – Climate-Related Financial Disclosures The Australian Government has released Treasury Laws Amendment Bill 2024: Climate-related financial disclosure, which is draft legislation...more
3/1/2024
/ Anti-Slavery Commissioner ,
ASIC ,
Audits ,
Australia ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Popular ,
Sustainability
Introduction - Over 400 New South Wales (NSW) government entities, including government agencies, state owned corporations, and councils (collectively, Covered Entities) are required to conduct modern slavery due diligence...more
Commercial activity in 2023 was bruised by higher inflation, higher borrowing costs and renewed geopolitical instability, which resulted in waning levels of business and consumer confidence as the year drew to a close. But...more
Overview - Background - The Australian Government recently released an exposure draft of the legislation to implement mandatory climate-related financial disclosures (Draft Legislation). This follows the release of draft...more
2/20/2024
/ Australia ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Due Diligence ,
Duty of Care ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Sustainability
Australian Update - ASIC to Focus on Net Zero Statements and Targets - On 21-22 November 2023, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) hosted the ASIC Annual Forum, outlining: The progress and outcomes ASIC...more
12/27/2023
/ ASIC ,
Australia ,
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Greenwashing ,
Popular ,
Sustainable Finance
Australian Update - Draft Reporting Standards for Australian Climate-Related Disclosures - As previously reported by K&L Gates, the Australian Accounting Standards Board released its exposure draft of the Australian...more
11/27/2023
/ Australia ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Green Bonds ,
Hydrogen Power ,
Investment ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Renewable Energy ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Sustainability ,
Sustainable Finance
Australian Update - Warnings Issued About Active Investment Greenwashing As reported by the Australian Financial Review, Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has warned that superannuation funds who justify...more
Companies will often make representations about modern slavery as part of their environmental, social and governance (ESG) measures. In this article, we consider whether potentially false or misleading claims about modern...more
Mining companies may soon be faced with the results of the first comprehensive review of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (the JORC Code or the Code) in 11 years....more
Australian Update - Addressing Modern Slavery Risks in Renewable Energy Supply Chains - As the modern slavery risks in the supply chains of renewable energy producers and markets come into focus (ABC|GreenBiz), the office of...more
Australia Update - ACCC Releases its Guidance on Making Environmental and Sustainability Claims - As previously reported by K&L Gates, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (the ACCC) released its long-awaited...more
The Australian Government recently released its Critical Minerals Strategy 2023–2030 (CM Strategy). BACKGROUND - Australia holds some of the world’s largest repositories of cobalt, lithium and vanadium — elements critical...more