Welcome to the fourteenth edition of P2N0 covering the drive to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to net-zero (NZE). P2N0 identifies significant news items globally, reporting on them in short form, focusing on policy...more
This week, we discuss the first settlement between a state and a group of young plaintiffs who claimed that their government’s inadequate climate policies violated their constitutional right to a healthy environment. We...more
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
Recognising the threat of climate change and the importance of sustainable development, Singapore has made a commitment to establishing a robust framework of environmental and climate change laws and regulations – an...more
COP28 - December 6, 2023 Recap - Today’s COP28 theme – Multilevel Action, Urbanization and Built Environment/Transport – saw the hosting of a Ministerial Meeting on Urbanization and Climate Change and the release of the...more
On September 7, 2023, Allianz SE unveiled its first net-zero transition plan for its core business segments, featuring 2030 intermediate targets to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. The Munich-based insurance firm’s...more
The UAE published its long-awaited hydrogen strategy last week, aiming to outline the key steps needed to position the UAE as a top global producer of low carbon hydrogen by 2031 and to support the UAE’s announced target of...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
On September 19, 2023, the U.S. Treasury Department introduced nine guiding principles for private sector financial institutions that have made net-zero commitments. The principles are intended to highlight and encourage the...more
Good afternoon! This is Akin’s newsletter on climate change policy and regulatory developments, providing information on major climate policy headlines from the past week and forthcoming climate-related events and hearings...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
The UK Climate Change Committee (CCC) recently released its 2023 statutory report, evaluating the UK’s progress towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions and meeting carbon reduction targets. This report, mandated by the...more
In June 2023, the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) published a draft of its Financial Institutions Net Zero (FINZ) Standard to enable financial institutions to establish targets consistent with achieving net-zero...more
In a recently published white paper, JPMorgan outlined its approach to improving and strengthening voluntary carbon markets to promote scalable decarbonization efforts. JPMorgan focused its analysis on voluntary carbon...more
On June 26, 2023, the Cambridge City Council voted to amend the city’s Building Energy Use Disclosure Ordinance (BEUDO) to require large non-residential buildings to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 and...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
You might recall our posts on litigation by states, counties, and cities blaming a host of calamities, real and imagined, past and future, on Big Oil. The producers tried their best to remove the cases to federal court. In a...more
On April 18, 2023, the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) published a “Net Zero Standard for Oil & Gas.” Development of the Standard follows a two-year collaborative process led by IIGCC with support from...more
The Net Zero transition will not be smooth. The scale of the investment required and the appetite and ability of countries to implement new policy – both now and in the years to come – will cause unprecedented disruption and...more
On November 16, 2022, the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) finalized its 2022 Scoping Plan (the “Scoping Plan”) laying out how California plans to achieve its long-term climate target of carbon neutrality. The State’s...more
The 2023 Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor (CCRM), produced in partnership by Carbon Market Watch and the New Climate Institute, contend that of the 24 multinational corporations assessed in the review – “the largest...more
On February 10, the UK’s advertising regulator, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), announced the publication of updated guidance for advertisers making environmental sustainability-related claims to consumers,...more
The City of Boston is advancing three companion regulatory efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for medium-sized and large buildings. As addressed in our 2021 advisory, the Boston Emissions Reduction and Disclosure...more
Last month, the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA), an alliance of asset managers committed to transitioning their investment portfolios to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, released the third edition of its...more
On January 13, an independent report was published into the UK government’s approach to delivering on its net zero obligations. The review, commissioned by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), was...more