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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 the second of a series of articles looking at how Brexit is working out for the UK, we discuss tariff reductions that took effect on 1 January 2021. Which sectors benefit, what will be the wider impact and what more could be done?

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 introduction of the UK Global Tariff Schedule (UKGT) on 1 January this year, Travers Smith LLP has analysed over 2,000 products where tariffs have been removed or reduced to explore which sectors benefit, what the wider impact will be and what more could be done.

Welcome to the second episode in a pair of short videos looking at two of the most topical issues for employers as we come out of lockdown.

Travers Smith LLP has advised BUUK Infrastructure on the sale of its UK smart meter business, Smart Meter Assets 1 Ltd ("SMA"), to a consortium of Arcus Infrastructure Partners and GLIL Infrastructure.

On 22 February 2021, the UK Government published its new "Roadmap out of Lockdown" for England,  which could potentially see a "cautious but irreversible" lifting of all legal limits on social contact by 21 June if certain strict conditions are met (the "Roadmap").

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.

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.

Travers Smith LLP has advised Swedish-listed medtech company Addlife as it continues its expansion in Europe with the acquisition of the Healthcare 21 Group (HC21). HC21 is a leading independent Life Science distributor with operations in Ireland and the UK with sales in FY20 of approximately EUR 171 million and around 450 employees

Travers Smith LLP has advised Xoserve on the restructuring of its operations and carve-out of new subsidiary Correla, as well as the subsequent sale of Correla to private equity firm NorthEdge.

Travers Smith LLP has advised Xoserve on the restructuring of its operations and carve-out of new subsidiary Correla, as well as the subsequent sale of Correla to private equity firm NorthEdge.

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.

What is COP26?

COP26 is the 26^th 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.

In this short video, Knowledge Counsel Jonathan Rush provides a 3 minute guide to the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA).