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The FCA has issued a discussion paper seeking views on proposed new sustainability disclosure requirements and a sustainability labelling system.

Writing for Portfolio Institutional, Derivatives & Structured Products Partner, Sebastian Reger, discusses illiquid assets in the context of defined benefit pension schemes and considers the legal and commercial factors which cause illiquidity that asset owners should be aware of. 

COP26 has so far consistently delivered important "side deals" and the fourth day of the summit was no exception. On Thursday, when the focus was on the energy transition, more than 40 countries agreed to move away from coal-fired energy over the next two decades.

A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry. 

In Kabab-Ji SAL (Lebanon) v Kout Food Group (Kuwait), the Supreme Court ("UKSC") has provided further confirmation of the approach to determining the law that will govern an arbitration agreement.

Sunday 31 October 2021 marked the official start of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26). World leaders, climate negotiators, members of the press and media, and representatives of observer organisations descended on Glasgow to join an event which many believe to be the world’s best last chance to get runaway climate change under control.

On Wednesday morning the Chancellor of the UK, Rishi Sunak, reiterated at the start of COP26's Finance Day the UK's plan to become the "first ever net zero aligned financial centre".

In Jones & Ors v Lydon & Ors [2021] EWHC 2322 (Ch), the court confirmed that, where a series of communications is expressed to be made on a "without prejudice" basis, a party must express a clear intention to move the discussions onto an open footing before without prejudice privilege will cease to apply.

Tuesday's big announcement, following swiftly from Monday's commitment to end deforestation by 2030, was that over 100 countries have signed up to dramatically reduce their emissions of methane by supporting the Global Methane Pledge. Though carbon dioxide is often the greenhouse gas that grabs headlines, methane has more than 80 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide in the first 20 years after it is emitted, making its reduction important for short term management of temperature rises. Major sources of methane are the fossil fuel energy sector, agriculture and waste.

The UK's Corporate Justice Coalition ("CJC"), an organisation made up of various UK and international Civil Society Organisations ("CSOs") including Anti-Slavery International, Friends of the Earth and Business Human Rights Resource Centre has recently recommended the implementation of a potentially wide-reaching corporate "failure to prevent" regime targeting negative human rights and environmental impacts. Such a regime would track similar EU proposals relating to the diligence of 'value chains' for ESG failings and malpractice.

With climate change dominating the headlines, at the end of last week, the Government published its response to the March 2021 consultation on mandatory climate-related financial disclosures. The consultation set out proposals for certain publicly quoted companies, large private companies and LLPs to disclose climate-related financial information in line with the recommendations of the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures ("TCFD recommendations"). The response summarises feedback the Government has received on its proposals and confirms that the changes will be implemented largely as set out in the consultation.

Early this morning it was announced that more than 100 world leaders will commit to halting and reversing forest loss and land degradation by 2030 at an event due to be convened by the UK at COP26 on Tuesday 2 November 2021.

This briefing was first published in July 2021 and updated in November 2021. 

The Court of Appeal's judgment in Dargamo Holdings Limited v Avonwick Holdings Limited [2021] EWCA Civ 1149^[1] contains important remarks in respect of both the interaction between the law of contract and the law of unjust enrichment, as well as the operation of doctrine of "failure of basis" as a ground of restitution.

Our Autumn Budget website, put together by our colleagues in the Tax team, is live. You can view it here: Autumn Budget 2021 | Travers Smith.

Last month Travers Smith's Director of Pro Bono, Sam Cottman, sat down with Charity: Water founder and New York Times bestselling author, Scott Harrison, to discuss the incredible work that our client Charity: Water does. Scott also discussed his fascinating journey from New York nightclub promoter to ending the global water crisis. 

In this podcast, Incentives & Remuneration Knowledge Counsel Kulsoom Hadi and Tax Associate Aimee Hutchinson discuss the use of ESG performance conditions and how the Travers Smith team became involved in drafting ESG conditions for long-term incentive plan (LTIP) awards as part of the Chancery Lane Project.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has recently published a set of principles setting out how providers of anti-virus software with contracts which auto-renew can best comply with UK consumer protection law. This guidance is also noteworthy for other B2C businesses which use auto-renewal, particularly in an online context.

On 22 October 2021, the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) published their final report and draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) regarding the content and presentation of taxonomy related disclosures as required by the Taxonomy Regulation and the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).