In our blog post here, we discussed the amendments to the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited’s (SEHK) Corporate Governance Code and Listing Rules, which prohibit single-gender boards among listed companies and IPO applicants in Hong Kong, effective from January 1, 2022. Existing issuers with single-gender boards will have a three-year transition period to
Litigation is increasingly being used as a means of advancing – or delaying – effective climate action.
As discussed in our recent legal update on the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment’s 2021 Global Trends in Climate Change Litigation Policy Report (the “2021 Report”), between 2015 and 2021, there was a marked
On 29 June 2022, the Brazilian Superintendence of Private Insurance (“SUSEP”) published Regulation No. 666/2022, setting forth sustainability requirements applicable to the Brazilian insurance sector. Its goal is to establish guidelines for management of risks that are directly related to ESG policies of insurance and capitalization companies, local reinsurers and pension funds.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) on 20 May 2022 released a revised draft decision on the proposed direct power purchase agreement (DPPA) pilot scheme for stakeholder consultation (May 2022 Draft Decision). Vietnam is seeking to implement a DPPA pilot scheme which, for the first time, will enable renewable energy generators to sell clean electricity
In May we published a legal update on the recent Australian federal election (here) and what a new Labor government may mean for the renewables industry in Australia. The note highlighted that no specific legislation was planned for hydrogen.
Australia’s states have been more active in trying to jump on the hydrogen bandwagon.
On 1 July 2022, the Brazilian Supreme Court issued a ruling on ADPF 708 (Ação de Descumprimento de Preceito Fundamental), which is another climate litigation case under the court’s scrutiny (please read here and here for more information about other climate litigation cases submitted to the Brazilian Supreme Court). In summary, political parties filed ADPF
A lot can happen in ESG in three days. By Wednesday last week, there were three important developments in the world of ESG and sustainable finance from the European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA”), the International Capital Markets Association (“ICMA”) and the UK Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”). Read more about these developments, which relate to
On June 30, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court decided West Virginia et al. v. Environmental Protection Agency, holding that the EPA lacks authority under Section 7411(d) of the Clean Air Act to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants through “generation shifting,” i.e., increasing the use of cleaner energy sources like wind and solar and
On June 23, 2022, the American Bankers Association and 51 state bankers associations released a letter to the federal financial regulators that describes principles the regulators should use when developing guidance and regulations on ESG issues (“Industry Letter”). These principles reflect the industry’s view on how the government can maintain a free-market financial system that also
In response to growing investor demand for information concerning companies’ sustainability-related financial risks, the sustainability disclosure landscape has rapidly changed over the last decade. In what marks one of the latest developments to the sustainability disclosure landscape, on 29 April 2022, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (“EFRAG”) – a private organisation that provides technical