Following weeks of uncertainty, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive ("CS3D") was finally adopted by the Council of the European Union ("Council") on March 15, 2024. ...more
Introduction - With the adoption by 196 parties of the Paris Agreement in December 2015, legally binding international climate change arrived. The Paris Agreement requires increasingly aggressive five-year cycles climate...more
Introduction: Strategic Carbon Management - The corporate world is experiencing significant growth in the need for carbon management services. Within the diverse field of environmental and sustainability services, the top...more
Following two rounds of consultation, the Australian Government has released an exposure draft of the Treasury Laws Amendment Bill 2024: Climate related financial disclosure (Draft Bill) which would introduce mandatory,...more
An Austrian regional court found Austrian Airlines AG (AUA), a subsidiary of German airline Lufthansa, liable for greenwashing for advertisements offering carbon-neutral flights that used 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF),...more
On August 10, 2023, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) announced its third civil penalty proceeding this year for greenwashing against LGSS Pty Limited, which is trustee for superannuation fund Local...more
Australia continues to be a highly active jurisdiction for climate-related lawsuits. The last few years have seen multiple suits commenced against corporations and governments in relation to climate issues, with more filings...more
On June 21, 2023, the General Court of the European Union rejected an action brought by a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) seeking to annul European Commission legislation that identified certain activities related to...more
ACRA and SGX RegCo are consulting on recommendations for climate-related disclosure reporting for Singapore companies. The recommendations cover both listed and large non-listed companies. The requirement will be rolled out...more
ESG is an acronym and importantly a movement with a viewpoint. It is also an evolving concept which uses the first letters of three words as its name. Those words are Environmental, Social and Governance. ESG is a concept...more
On March 22, 2023, the European Commission unveiled a proposal, the Green Claims Directive, (Proposal) aimed at combating greenwashing and misleading environmental claims. By virtue of the Proposal, the EC is attempting to...more
In a recent report, the UK-based NGO ShareAction claimed that “[t]he asset management industry needs to change urgently if it is to demonstrate proactive stewardship that safeguards against key social and environmental risks...more
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) recently issued a report raising concerns that certain auditing firms had certified client companies’ practices and products as sustainable while ignoring that...more
Consumers are increasingly seeking more sustainable products, making a company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices part of their purchasing decisions. In the alcohol space, breweries, wineries and...more
On February 17, 2023, the European Commission granted approval for the Spanish and German governments to subsidize the construction of two renewable hydrogen-powered steel production facilities for Europe’s largest...more
In its second report assessing how, and to what extent, S&P 100 companies have implemented climate-related policies into their own business initiatives, Ceres, through its Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets, found...more
A global financial institution recently announced an updated energy policy, supplementing its previously issued 2030 targets. HSBC’s 2030 targets aimed, among other things, to reduce financed emissions in two carbon-intensive...more
Amidst the many weighty matters discussed and debated at the recent COP26 climate conference, a major announcement with momentous potential effects on businesses may have gone unnoticed. The IFRS Foundation said at the...more
Bereits im Römischen Reich galt als wichtiger kaufmännischer Grundsatz „caveat emptor“, also „Augen auf vor Kauf“ und damit ´Käufer sieh dich vor´. Dieser seit Jahrhunderten gültige Grundsatz hielt in den deutschen...more