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On 1 July, which marks the 10th anniversary of the UK's Bribery Act coming into force, the Serious Fraud Office ("SFO") secured court approval for a Deferred Prosecution Agreement ("DPA") with Amec Foster Wheeler Energy Limited ("AFWEL"). This latest DPA concludes yet another significant multi-year corruption probe and highlights the importance of continued ABC compliance measures for multinational organisations.
On 6 July 2021, the European Commission adopted a package of measures intended to help improve the flow of money towards financing the transition to a sustainable economy.
A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry.
The TCFD Roadmap unfolds
Following the launch in November 2020 of its investigation into potentially misleading environmental claims targeting consumers, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published draft consumer protection law guidance aimed at all businesses making such claims.
In the years leading up to Brexit, both the UK and the European Union had been busy developing sustainability policy and legislation. Now the UK has left the EU, it remains committed to being at the forefront of the sustainable finance agenda.
On 26 April 2021, the Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions Regulations 2021 ("ACSR") came into force in the UK – the second targeted sanctions regime the UK has introduced in under a year. This follows the July 2020 Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations, which we reported on here.
Earlier this year, we launched a series of webinars on the theme of "Sustainability and alternative asset managers: the new normal".
A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry.
On 22 and 23 April 2021, US President Joe Biden hosted a global two-day international climate summit to formally mark the US' return to the Paris Agreement (the "Climate Summit"). The Climate Summit's focus was on starting conversations around how to address the climate crisis in practice, including emission reductions, carbon trading, finance, innovation and job creation, in advance of more formal talks at COP26 later this year. It was the first time in four years that the US government has hosted a major international climate discussion, sending a strong signal to the rest of the world that the US is serious again about tackling climate change.
The European Commission has issued a Sustainable Finance Package comprising the EU Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act and the legislation integrating sustainability risks into the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive Delegated Regulation, the MiFID II Delegated Regulation and Delegated Directive and the UCITS Delegated Directive.
On 20 April the UK Government announced that it would significantly increase its climate ambition, ahead of the COP26 international climate summit in Glasgow in November. The UK's Climate Change Act commits it to net zero by 2050, and it recently adopted a new Nationally Determined Contribution ("NDC") under the Paris Agreement of 68% reduction against 1990 levels by 2030.
A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry.
On the eve of the first requirements under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) coming into force, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) released its final advice to the European Commission on Taxonomy reporting for companies in the scope of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD). While there is some overlap between the companies covered by these two sets of requirements, certain large listed companies who are not obligated under the SFDR will be interested to read ESMA's advice which will inform the requirements applicable to them from 1 January 2022.
While the EU continues to develop a complex framework of environment and social impact related reporting requirements with its landmark Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, the UK Government is seeking to forge its own path and is focusing, for now at least, more narrowly on climate reporting.
COP26 is the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The summit will be attended by the heads of state of the countries that signed the UNFCCC, as well as a variety of climate experts and campaigners, in order to agree and accelerate action on the Paris Agreement. The UK, in partnership with Italy, is hosting the summit this year in Glasgow from 1 - 12 November 2021 after it was delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The UK is centre stage in the lead up to COP26. As host, the UK will be tasked with trying to build consensus at the summit to ensure its success, but there has already been some criticism of the UK's approach to COP26 from certain stakeholders.
While the Paris Agreement certainly represents the most important part of the international effort to alleviate the impact of climate change, there is also increasing recognition that the business world needs to play a central role in meeting net zero, as industrial activities are the biggest contributor to rising temperatures on the planet. The World Bank estimates that $4 trillion of finance needs to be mobilised annually to invest in mitigation and resilience in the Global South, and most of this needs to be financed by the private sector.
The European Commission has recently published (on 17 March 2021) a consultation on its sustainable products initiative ("SPI"). The SPI is one of a number of initiatives designed to help the EU reach the Green Deal objectives (find further information on the Green Deal in our earlier TS Briefing Note) of lower resource consumption and reduced environmental impact, and responds directly to the EU Circular Economy Action Plan. Feedback on the SPI closes on 9 June 2021.