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Explore our insights on climate change, business & human rights, sustainable finance, inclusion & diversity, energy transition, and more.
Explore our insights on climate change, business & human rights, sustainable finance, inclusion & diversity, energy transition, and more.
Agreement was reached by 190 countries on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) on 19 December 2022, after two weeks of negotiations at COP15 in Montreal. This briefing considers some of the key targets in the GBF.
Find out more about Nature's Paris? Key outcomes and measures of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (COP15)After a meteoric rise in corporate, investor, and public attention, ESG faces a backlash from conservative politicians and regulators, especially in the United States. From its beginnings as a term for assessing an enterprise’s control over environmental, social, and governance factors, ESG has become a widely used but poorly-defined umbrella term encompassing a wide variety of environmental and social issues. As a result, ESG is now a target for those opposing “leftist politics” and the “woke agenda.” One argument has been that industry climate alliances violate US antitrust law.
find out moreCOP27 – the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties – is intended to build on the work that took place at COP26 last year and move on from pledges to implementation. This year's Conference is lower key and more procedural. Against a backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, increasing geopolitical tensions, food, and energy security issues, rising inflation and an uncertain economic outlook, Clifford Chance experts take a look at the themes of this year's conference and what is likely to be achieved.
Find out more about COP27 – What can we expect?Electro-fuels, or e-fuels, have a carbon footprint of almost zero compared with hydrocarbons and are likely to play a key role in supporting the global energy transition. They are a promising alternative to fossil fuels in the transport sector, particularly shipping and aviation, and are attracting growing interest from stakeholders looking to limit CO2 emissions and meet decarbonisation targets.
Find out more about E-fuels and green ammonia – The solution for decarbonising shipping and heavy transport?Our Worldwide Projects Group came together in Copenhagen to dive deep into the issues businesses face globally in the ambition to becoming Net Zero. Take a look at some of their predictions for what lies ahead around the world.
WatchThe transition from fossil fuels to clean energy to address the climate crisis was never going to be easy and involves expensive trade-offs between economics and climate. However, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has made that transition much harder as energy security becomes a major problem for many countries. David Evans, Senior Counsel and co-head of the Americas Energy and Projects Group at Clifford Chance in Washington D.C explores the legal and practical challenges that need to be considered.
Find out more about Energy transition: Energy security, affordability and the impact on climate changeThere's a new hope in the battle against climate change from somewhere you might not expect. In-house counsel are stepping up to become agents for change in their organisation. In this fifth episode of the Clifford Chance podcast series "The Climate Lawyer", host Richard Kim (counsel, Düsseldorf) is joined by Adam Woodhall, founder and CEO of Lawyers for Net Zero, a non-profit that helps guide in-house counsel on their climate journeys.
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On 28 July 2021, the FCA launched a consultation (CP21/24) on proposals to improve transparency for investors on the diversity of listed company boards and the...
Diversity and Inclusion continues to be a hot topic within corporate America, with more and more regulators—including the New York State Department of Financia...
Last week, the bill introducing 1) a statutory diversity quota for supervisory boards (or the non-executive members of a one-tier board) of companies with a st...
On 18 July 2022, the High Court declared that the UK's Net Zero Strategy is, in part, unlawful and ordered the Secretary of State to revise it by March 2023. I...
There's a new hope in the battle against climate change from somewhere you might not expect. In-house counsel are stepping up to become agents for change in their organization. In this fifth episode of the Clifford Chance podcast series 'The Climate Lawyer', host Richard Kim (counsel, Düsseldorf) is joined by Adam Woodhall, founder and CEO of Lawyers for Net Zero, a non-profit that helps guide in-house counsel on their climate journeys.
There's no path to net zero without innovation, and nobody knows innovation like venture capital. What does it mean to be a climate VC investor? Find out in the fourth episode of The Clifford Chance Podcast series, 'The Climate Lawyer', where host Richard Kim (counsel, Düsseldorf) is joined by Mona Alsubaei, a member of the investment team at Union Square Ventures (USV) and specialist in climate tech investing.
The UK Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs has published a second consultation on the proposed UK mandatory forest-risk commodities due diligence...
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has announced that it will impose mandatory climate-related financial disclosure duties on l...
A broad range of services – from digital and telecommunications services to engineering, cloud storage and artificial intelligence (AI) – will play an integral...
Clifford Chance has collaborated with the World Economic Forum on the publication, Delivering a Trade and Climate Agenda. The report finds that while businesses are actively pursuing emissions reductions, action on trade policy can help accelerate this shift. The report outlines eight ways in which trade policy can help businesses accelerate the transition to net-zero.
Italy had seemed to be one step behind other countries where climate change litigation is concerned, with no climate-related litigation having been commenced i...
COP27 – the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties – is intended to build on the work that took place at COP26 last year and move on from pledges to imple...
COP-26 was an opportunity for states, NGOs, the business community and the public to come together to discuss, debate and develop solutions to the climate crisis.
COP26, has been described as the 'last best hope" to avert climate disaster. In this extract from a recent Clifford Chance event, moderated by Partner an...
You've seen the news on COP26, but not like this. For the first episode of our new podcast series, The Climate Lawyer, host Rich Kim (Counsel, Dusseldorf) is joined by Clare Burgess (Partner, London) and David Alfrey (Lawyer, London) for a lively and insightful discussion of the conference and its major takeaways.
Some 6 years after the Paris Agreement, COP26 has resulted in agreement on a global carbon market mechanism (GCMM) largely completing the so-called 'Paris Agre...
China has pledged to be carbon neutral by 2060. It's a huge ambition and will require a vast amount of domestic and international investment. Our experts exam...
The development of a clean hydrogen ecosystem in Europe is critical to ensure that the projected increases in hydrogen supply and demand are realised which are...
The Japanese government has set ambitious goals for a carbon-neutral future to enhance its energy security. It plans to establish a full-scale international hy...
We are pleased to present this briefing regarding the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the "IRA"), which Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) described as &q...
As part of the Federal Government's crackdown on greenwashing, an independent review of the Australian Carbon Credit Units regime will be carried out by former...
As the UK strives towards its ambitious target of 50GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030, large-scale investment will be required in the offshore wind industry...
The transition from fossil fuels to clean energy to address the climate crisis was never going to be easy and involves expensive trade-offs between economics a...
While Northern Europe and the UK started investing in offshore wind more than 20 years ago, France was slow off the mark. Now, that is about to change, as the ...
In a race to ensure it is on track to meet its net zero targets by 2050, the Government has announced the publication of its new British Energy Security Strate...
There remains a narrow window of opportunity for timely action to address the climate crisis and still meet the Paris Agreement targets. The necessary transiti...
In March 2022, in response to the unprecedented energy price crisis, the European Commission presented REPowerEU, a new set of proposed measures to create...
Ahead of its Presidency of COP26, the UK Government has published its Net Zero Strategy to 2050. The Strategy covers all business sectors and some cross-cuttin...
The European Commission has published a proposal for a Regulation on a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to deal with the long-standing problem of 'car...
The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has published its strategy setting out the path to decarbonising industry, aiding the goal...
Agreement was reached by 190 countries on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) on 19 December 2022, after two weeks of negotiations at COP1...
On January 10, 2023, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA") issued its 2023 Report on FINRA’s Examination and Risk Monitoring Program ...
The European Commission has proposed a long-awaited legislative update aimed at reducing packaging waste across the EU as part of efforts to create a...
Company boards are increasingly seeing ESG as a legal issue and the role of the in-house legal team is changing as it deals with a growing workload to manage r...
Our Americas ESG practice focuses on public and private transactions and compliance and risk management. We are closely integrated with our global ESG team and...
The fashion industry is intrinsically evolving as the most coveted patterns and textures ebb with the tide of public opinion. While these shifts occur, the phy...
Since the European Commission published its proposal for a Regulation on European green bonds ("EU GBS") in July 2021 as part of its agenda on sustai...
This is a reprint of an article originally published on 16 March 2022 as part of our publication "Structured Debt in a New World", accessible he...
Building on the progress made by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (the "TCFD"), companies are now likely to come under pressur...
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations are essential to businesses for the opportunities they bring, and for the reputational and economic r...
Environmental, social and governance considerations are now mainstream and have an impact on all businesses, globally. We explore the ESG trends that we think ...
ESG investment is booming – according to research from Bloomberg, ESG assets are forecast to hit US$53 trillion by 2025 (a third of global assets under managem...
On September 29, 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposed amendments to Form N-PX under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, to in...
On 22 June the FCA published CP21/18 consulting on proposals to extend the application of their climate-related disclosures listing rule to standard listed com...
Activist shareholders and NGOs targeting governments and businesses in relation to climate change are increasingly turning to litigation....
In a landmark judgement, Royal Dutch Shell (RDS) has been ordered by the District Court of The Hague to reduce it CO2 emissions by 45% by 2030, as compared wit...
The development of sustainable finance continues to evolve across the Middle East – a region more readily associated with conventional energy resources such as...
The European Commission has finalised legislation containing the Technical Screening Criteria (TSC) for climate mitigation and adaptation activities supporting...
On 21 April 2021 the European Commission adopted a package of measures to help improve the flow of money towards sustainable activities across the European Uni...
The European Commission has published a proposal for a Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) as part of a package of measures aiming to direct ca...
With COP26 (the United Nations climate change talks) fast approaching, the U.S. has announced its new Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the landma...
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations are important to businesses for the opportunities they bring, and for the reputational and economic r...
Central banks, financial regulators and governments around the world are focusing on the risks that climate change poses to the global economy. There are a num...
Environmental, Social and Governance ("ESG") initiatives are at the forefront of today's market economy as government and corporate leaders are urgin...
The European Union is currently consulting on sustainable corporate governance in the context of the European Green Deal. In this extract from a recent Cliffo...
Carbon credits are increasingly playing a significant part in decarbonisation strategies for governments and companies, but there are still unanswered questions around their legal characterisation and regulatory status. In this session, Belinda Ellington from Citigroup Global Markets along with Clifford Chance partners looked at recent developments in the voluntary carbon markets, the ongoing initiatives to promote trading activity and confidence using derivatives and structured products, and some of the key issues for regulated firms trading these products.
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In the lead-up to COP27 – which is taking place amidst significant geopolitical turmoil – Clifford Chance experts Clare Burgess, Nigel Howorth, Greg Jehle, Roger Leese and Olamide Oladosu discussed energy transition, carbon trading, finance, international sovereign debt, and looked at Africa and the US, and contextualised what is on the conference agenda.
Read our briefing on what we can expect from COP27.
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This report draws attention to the human rights strategies developed by all 22 cities across the United Bid, recognizing the important work done by a wide range of contributors and the key commitments and undertakings of the cities. The city submissions, which are publicly available, are voluminous, and this report aims to present the information in ways that will increase the accessibility of the material to a wide variety of stakeholders.
Learn moreClifford Chance has collaborated with the World Economic Forum on the publication, Delivering a Trade and Climate Agenda. The report finds that while businesses are actively pursuing emissions reductions, action on trade policy can help accelerate this shift. The report outlines eight ways in which trade policy can help businesses accelerate the transition to net-zero.
Read the report