After the German federal government break-up in November 2024 and the new elections in February 2025, the political parties – Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU)/ Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) and Social...more
4/18/2025
/ Climate Change ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Sector ,
Energy Storage ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Germany ,
Hydrogen Power ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Renewable Energy ,
Solar Energy ,
Wind Power
On April 2, 2025, after weeks of speculation and heightened geopolitical tension, President Trump announced sweeping global tariffs on what he dubbed “Liberation Day”. The tariffs included a baseline universal tariff of 10%...more
The European Commission’s Omnibus package, published on February 26, 2025 (the Omnibus Package or the Package), proposes to simplify the EU’s sustainability laws. At the same time, it has generated significant uncertainty for...more
3/31/2025
/ Business Entities ,
Corporate Governance ,
Due Diligence ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Supply Chain ,
Sustainability
In the context of the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the U.S., EU, and U.K. continue to implement new measures to stifle Russia’s war efforts.
The Biden administration continued to escalate sanctions...more
3/12/2025
/ CAATSA ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Energy Sector ,
EU ,
Executive Orders ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Popular ,
Russia ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Treasury ,
UK
Foreign investment (FDI) screening regimes continued to present challenges for dealmakers. We saw tough intervention in key jurisdictions. New and expanding rules added to regulatory burden. Overall, most deals are cleared...more
2/28/2025
/ Acquisitions ,
Compliance ,
EU ,
Foreign Direct Investment ,
Global Market ,
Investment ,
Mergers ,
National Security ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
UK
At COP29 in Baku, new rules were adopted for carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. These rules are meant to increase the transparency of the country-to-country trading of carbon credits under Article 6.2....more
2/28/2025
/ Carbon Emissions ,
CFTC ,
Climate Change ,
Compliance ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Environmental Policies ,
EU ,
Germany ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Popular ,
Sustainability
The Swedish Court of Appeal (Court) has requested a preliminary ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to clarify the effect and scope of Russia-related sanctions. The anticipated ruling by the CJEU...more
On January 15, 2025, the European Commission (EC) issued a Recommendation (the Recommendation) urging European Union (EU) Member States to scrutinize their companies' investments in non-EU countries (also referred to as...more
More competitiveness, more coherence and less administrative burden – these are key political priorities for the new European Commission (the Commission) which took office last December. One of the earliest moves under the...more
1/17/2025
/ Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Sustainability ,
Sustainable Business Practices
This is an update to previous bulletins on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D) which we published in June and September 2024.
In a decisive move that marks a new chapter for corporate...more
12/17/2024
/ Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Due Diligence ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
EU Directive ,
Member State ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Sustainability ,
Sustainable Business Practices
Olaf Scholz has proposed federal elections to take place in March or April 2025. The leader of the opposition, Friedrich Merz, is pushing for federal elections already in January 2025. Considering the more recent outcome of...more
On November 12, 2024, The Hague Court of Appeal found in the case Millieudefensie vs. Shell that the Shell Group has an obligation to counter dangerous climate change. However, the Court was not able to establish that the...more
12/5/2024
/ Carbon Emissions ,
Climate Change ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Doing Business ,
Environmental Litigation ,
Environmental Policies ,
EU ,
Germany ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements
In this article, we provide an overview of country-led and private sector-driven key developments surrounding the recent United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP16). The world is progressively recognizing that biodiversity...more
11/15/2024
/ Biodiversity ,
Climate Change ,
Contaminated Properties ,
COP ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Private Equity ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Sustainable Finance ,
Transparency ,
UK ,
United Nations
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently took two significant actions on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
First, it issued final National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWR) for six PFAS...more
The regulatory environment for influencing and funding political players in Germany has been changing rapidly in recent months. On 1 March 2024, the revised Federal Lobbying Register Act (Lobbyregistergesetz; LobbyRG),...more
Exciting times for hydrogen market participants in Germany – in the last months, a variety of new regulatory instruments and policy initiatives have been announced which will boost the ramp-up of the hydrogen economy in...more
3/28/2024
/ Climate Change ,
Electricity ,
Energy Projects ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Policies ,
Germany ,
Global Market ,
Hydrogen Power ,
Infrastructure ,
Investment ,
Investors ,
Oil & Gas ,
Private Equity ,
Regulatory Agenda
U.S. Customs authorities impounded thousands of vehicles, showing risks to imports linked to forced labor. The U.S. government detained thousands of luxury vehicles deemed to contain a small electronic component sourced from...more
3/28/2024
/ Automotive Industry ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Enforcement ,
Entity List ,
EU ,
Forced Labor ,
Imports ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Manufacturers ,
Sanctions ,
Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA)
Are regulations across the lifecycle of a low-carbon infrastructure project helping or hindering the transition? What structures helping the route to Net Zero have been introduced so far? In which fields is work still to be...more
3/11/2024
/ Carbon Emissions ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Energy Projects ,
EU ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Infrastructure ,
Net Zero ,
New Legislation ,
Permits ,
Regulatory Reform
Creating an effective regulatory framework will be critical to deliver Net Zero. But does that mean more – or less – regulation?
From trade agreements to taxonomies, carbon adjustment mechanisms to corporate sustainability...more
3/7/2024
/ Asia Pacific ,
Carbon Capture and Sequestration ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Global Economy ,
Global Market ,
Infrastructure ,
Investment Funds ,
Investment Management ,
Investors ,
Middle East ,
Net Zero ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Renewable Energy ,
Sustainability ,
Taxonomy ,
Technology Sector ,
UK ,
United States
Who has to comply with the Regulation? The Regulation only applies to EU person exporters who are selling, supplying, transferring, or exporting the targeted goods (including aircraft) to third-country counterparts outside of...more
In light of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, the UK and EU, in close collaboration with their G7 partners, have continued to exert economic pressure on Russia through an array of sanctions.
In this bulletin, we...more
On 24 January 2024, the European Commission (EC) published its proposed reform of foreign investment screening in the EU. The proposal introduces more comprehensive rules for the review of foreign investments and strengthens...more
1/26/2024
/ Biden Administration ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Dual Use Goods ,
EU ,
EU Screening Regulation ,
European Commission ,
European Court of Justice (ECJ) ,
Executive Orders ,
Export Controls ,
Foreign Direct Investment ,
Foreign Investment ,
Greenfield Projects ,
Indirect Investors ,
International Harmonization ,
Investors ,
Member State ,
New Regulations ,
Research and Development ,
Risk Assessment ,
Semiconductors ,
Sensitive Personal Information ,
Technology Sector ,
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)
The European Commission (EC)’s third annual report on EU foreign direct investment (FDI) screening covers the operation of the screening mechanism in 2022. Together with a Commission Staff Working Document, it details...more
The EU is concerned about subsidies granted by non-EU countries to businesses active in the EU that could distort competition in EU markets.
The Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) establishes a new suspensory notification...more
On 21 September 2023, the German Parliament passed the heavily discussed German Federal Act on the Increase of Energy Efficiency (Energieeffizienzgesetz – EnEfG) that aims at significantly increasing energy efficiency...more