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
9/27/2023
/ ASIC ,
Australia ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Greenwashing ,
Investment ,
Misleading Impressions ,
Securities Regulation ,
Sustainable Business Practices
On June 18, 2023 Swiss citizens voted in favor of a new climate law intended to promote carbon neutrality by 2050. The Federal Act on Climate Protection Targets, Innovation and Strengthening Energy Security, known as the...more
8/3/2023
/ Climate Action Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Reform ,
Environmental Policies ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Infrastructure ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pollution Control ,
Renewable Energy ,
Switzerland
In this month’s edition of REF News and Views we are going to wrap up our series on the National Security and Investment Act 2021 (the “NSI Act”) and explore the NSI Act’s impact on the real estate finance (“REF”) market....more
In this month’s edition of REF News and Views, we are going to continue our series on the National Security and Investment Act 2021 (the “NSI Act”) and explore the sanctions under the NSI Act for non-compliance.
To...more
On June 13, 2023, the European Commission published “a new package of measures to build on and strengthen the foundations of the EU sustainable finance framework.” The aim is to ensure that the EU sustainable finance...more
According to the recently published MSCI May 2023 Net Zero Tracker report, more listed companies are making climate commitments, setting decarbonization targets, and providing related disclosures, but these steps have not...more
In this month’s edition of REF News and Views we are going to continue our series on the National Security and Investment Act 2021 (the “NSI Act”) and discuss its notification and intervention provisions....more
MSCI has announced significant changes to its ESG investment fund ratings methodology that “aim to raise the requirements for a fund to be assessed as ‘AA’ or ‘AAA’ rated, improve stability in Fund ESG Ratings and add...more
The European Commission has rejected suggestions that it introduce minimum environmental standards for Article 8 or Article 9 funds under the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). On April 14, 2023, the...more
5/15/2023
/ Asset Management ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Funds ,
SFDR ,
Sustainability
In a series of articles in the coming months we will consider the National Security and Investment Act 2021 (the “NSI Act”) and its impact on the real estate finance market....more
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced that its widely-anticipated Policy Statement in response to the Sustainable Disclosure Requirements (SDRs) and investment labels consultation will now be published in Q3...more
More than 1,400 individual investors have signed a letter asserting that a large U.S.-based asset manager is violating its fiduciary duty to mitigate climate-related investment risks....more
On 30 September 2022, the Prudential Regulation Authority (the “PRA”) published Consultation Paper 16/22 (the “Consultation Paper”) proposing for the implementation of Basel 3.1 standards in the UK. The consultation closes on...more
As part of the Spring 2023 Budget, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has scrapped plans to require sovereign wealth funds to pay corporation tax on property and commercial enterprises.
The United Kingdom (“UK”) government had...more
On February 28, 2023 the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament reached a deal to draw up European Green Bonds Standards (“EUGBS”). The aim of the EUGBS is to establish the leading global framework for...more
In our August edition of REF News and Views, we continued our deep dive into the Sustainability-Linked Loan Principles (“SLLP”) core components (“Core Components”) and looked at loan characteristics, reporting progress...more
In our July edition of REF News and Views we began our deep dive into the Sustainability-Linked Loan Principles (“SLLP”) core components (“Core Components”).
As a reminder, the SLLP set out a framework, with the aim to...more
The Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 (the “ECA”) came into force on 1 August 2022 and places new obligations on overseas entities holding real estate in the United Kingdom.
Pursuant to the ECA, all...more
In our June edition of REF News and Views, we further explored the growing field of sustainability-linked loans (“SLLs”) by introducing and outlining the Sustainability-Linked Loan Principles (“SLLP”) and the SLLP core...more
In our May edition of REF News and Views, we provided an introduction to sustainability-linked loans (“SLLs”). As a reminder, SLLs emerged alongside green loans as a result of the movement towards greater awareness and...more