On 14 May 2024, the European Securities and Markets Authority ("ESMA") published its final report on "Guidelines on funds’ names using ESG or sustainability-related terms" (the "Guidelines"). The Guidelines aim to provide...more
In this week’s edition, the European Commission contacted 20 airlines requiring them to address potentially misleading or inaccurate green claims. The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) launched its digital...more
On April 24, 2024, the European Parliament approved the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D). The directive, which must be formally endorsed by the Council of the European Union (EU) before officially...more
Following weeks of uncertainty, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive ("CS3D") was finally adopted by the Council of the European Union ("Council") on March 15, 2024. ...more
On February 20, 2024, the European Union (EU) announced a provisional political agreement to establish an EU-wide framework for voluntary certification of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) projects. This announcement, which marks...more
From tariffs on high carbon goods to technical regulations that set emissions targets, well-designed trade policy is critical to deliver Net Zero. But there is growing debate over whether such measures are compatible with...more
The SEC has adopted the much-anticipated climate-related disclosure rules, which are more than 900 pages long, two years after they were first proposed. Although the rules will almost certainly face challenges in court that...more
Introduction - With the adoption by 196 parties of the Paris Agreement in December 2015, legally binding international climate change arrived. The Paris Agreement requires increasingly aggressive five-year cycles climate...more
Introduction: Strategic Carbon Management - The corporate world is experiencing significant growth in the need for carbon management services. Within the diverse field of environmental and sustainability services, the top...more
Akin is participating at COP28 and providing regular updates from the conference. COP28 - December 5, 2023 Recap - - A draft of the first Global Stocktake (GST), the document that assesses countries’ progress toward...more
Akin is participating at COP28 and providing regular updates from the conference. Friday, December 1, 2023 Updates: - On Thursday, a group of nations led by the UAE and several European countries agreed to establish a loss...more
REGULATORY ISSUES & UPDATES - Mandatory Climate Change Reporting Requirements Under the New European ESRS E1 - The implementation of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards poses risks for reporting companies,...more
The 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has commenced this week in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and will run through December 12, 2023. The UAE is...more
The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures ("TNFD") released its final framework (the "TNFD Framework") on September 18. The TNFD Framework encourages organisations to integrate nature into decision-making and...more
According to the 2022 World Energy Outlook of the International Energy Agency, the industry sector generates 45 percent of the total direct emission from end-users and it will be extremely difficult to reach net zero without...more
The framework claims to set the “gold standard” for companies to contribute to the net zero transition while emphasising ambition, action, and accountability. The UK Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT) launched its...more
In Short - The Situation: The California legislature passed landmark climate bills that surpass emissions disclosure requirements of any other existing state law. The bills are branded as the nation's first comprehensive...more
Methodology - For this report we used a definition of climate finance aligned with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Standing Committee on Finance, which states: “Climate finance aims at...more
The transition to a low-carbon, resilient, and just economy is the greatest investment opportunity of our lifetime. Institutions that are well prepared to embark on Net Zero pathways will be able to take full advantage of...more
Until now, however, no comprehensive estimate existed of the of that opportunity, (or, to put it another way, the size of the financing gap between committed spending and the investment needed to deliver Net Zero by 2050...more
A new study by the IBM Institute for Business Value found that approximately half of CEOs and their executive teams surveyed have their compensation tied to the organizations’ performance in relation to sustainability goals....more
Environmental law NGO ClientEarth has written to the Global Public Policy Committee (GPPC), which brings together representatives of the six large international accounting organizations, to request greater transparency and...more
In a speech delivered at the Australian Finance Review’s ESG summit on June 5, 2023, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s (ASIC) Chair, Joe Longo, warned companies that greenwashing is an ongoing concern for...more
On 13 June the European Commission (the Commission) published a new package of measures to bolster the EU sustainable finance framework. Its aim is to: “ensure that the EU sustainable finance framework continues to...more
What Is Carbon Offsetting and Why Is It Used? Carbon offsets are used by sustainability managers to make progress toward a company's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets. Carbon offsetting allows companies to...more