<p>Filter Knowledge</p>

In this session from the PLSA's inaugural ESG Conference (July 2021), Pensions Partner Andy Lewis, Partner and Head of Financial Services and Markets Tim Lewis and Senior Consultant Simon Witney discuss key questions that can arise for pension schemes looking develop their ESG policies and beliefs and translate these into practical action. How can schemes fit these specific regulations into the bigger picture of their overall duties and operations without getting lost in the detail?

On 2 August 2021 various amending measures were published in the EU Official Journal which will require EU Alternative Investment Fund Managers, EU UCITS management companies and EU MiFID investment firms (including portfolio managers and adviser/arrangers) to integrate sustainability risks and factors into their policies and procedures.

While in recent months the approaching COP26 has been occupying the bulk of government and media attention, the 15th meeting of the UN Conference of the Parties ("COP15") to the Convention on Biological Diversity ("CBD") is also due to take place in 2021, which is seen by many as being just as critical to the future of the planet.

The European Commission has published its long-awaited guidance regarding some of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation's (SFDR) known unknowns. The Guidance provides some additional clarity on the application of the SFDR, but unfortunately does not clearly answer all the outstanding questions.

Firms will need to continue to navigate uncertainty in the absence of clear law, guidance or a developed market practice.

A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry. 

Last week, the EU unveiled its 'Fit for 55' proposals, which if adopted would substantively revise the EU's climate and energy policies in order to enable a net greenhouse gas emissions reduction by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.

Welcome to the first in our series of podcasts focusing on international employment law. 

We recently held our third webinar in the series "Sustainability and alternative asset managers: the new normal".

The regulatory technical standards supplementing the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (EU SFDR)—which had been expected to apply from 1 January 2022—will be delayed by six months until 1 July 2022.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has hinted that new sustainability reporting requirements are on the horizon for pension schemes, financial services firms and their investment products.

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.

On 24 June 2021, the UK's Climate Change Committee ('CCC') delivered a report on the UK's progress in reducing emissions and adapting to climate change. This report followed the CCC's damning climate risk report (read our briefing here) just a week earlier.

A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry. 

The TCFD Roadmap unfolds

On 16 June 2021, the UK Committee on Climate Change ('CCC') issued its third report on the state of the UK's preparedness for the risks and opportunities of climate change impacts. "Climate change adaptation", changes that allow us to prepare for and live with the inevitable impacts of climate change, is recognised as, in some respects, as important as climate change mitigation, or actions to reduce the scale and speed of climate change itself.

In addition to COVID-19, climate change was one of the headline issues at the G7 summit in Cornwall over the weekend of 11-13 June 2021. The leaders of some of the world's richest nations, whose average carbon footprint per person is thought to be double the global average (triple for the US and Canada), made several climate-focused pledges, but critics claim that the detail of how to achieve them, and the finance needed to do so, were both missing.

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.