Julie Luanco

Biodiversity as a material financial risk: What board directors need to know

In the context of recent global developments, boards need to understand all of the indirect, but very real, implications of biodiversity loss for their business. This update draws out key points of the Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative (CCLI) report: Biodiversity Risk: Legal Implications for Companies and their Directors to outline why biodiversity loss should…

CCLI submits response to Transition Plan Taskforce consultation

The Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT) recently concluded a consultation on its Disclosure Framework and Implementation Guidance, which aims to develop a 'gold standard' for the disclosure of transition plans. The Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative (CCLI) responds to consultations in areas within our legal expertise on an ad hoc basis. We comment on how…

COP15 – Key Takeaways for Corporates

The 15th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, known as COP15, took place in December 2022 in Montreal, Canada. It resulted in a long-anticipated Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), heralded as a Paris-style agreement for nature. The GBF is groundbreaking in being the first multilateral agreement to set out explicit targets…

Can you price pollination? The emerging acknowledgement of biodiversity investment risks and opportunities

Human-induced species extinction and the resulting decline in biodiversity threatens the economic and financial systems on which we rely. Changing investment flows to align with and drive a nature-compatible financial system is a necessity - and we are now starting to see the required tools emerge. International Biodiversity Goals. The end of 2022 saw the…

Biodiversity Risk: Legal Implications for Companies and their Directors

Our brand new report authored by Jennifer Ramos and Zaneta Sedilekova ‘Biodiversity Risk: Legal Implications for Companies and their Directors’ explains that in order to discharge their duties and disclosure obligations, directors can ensure that risk management processes assess foreseeable biodiversity dependencies and impacts of the company for materiality and measure those that are material,…

Momentum is gathering for the international biodiversity negotiations

On 7 December 2022, world leaders will meet in Montreal, Canada for the second round of the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to agree on the final text of Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), an agreement with an ambitious goal to reverse global biodiversity loss. As the world enters…

Climate change and ESG-related risks in value chains: What board directors need to know

The Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative (CCLI) has partnered with the Climate Governance Initiative (CGI) to prepare this Quarterly Update for the CGI network. This is the third update of a series of quarterly learning materials on climate change as it relates to boards’ duties and governance. KEY POINTS ON VALUE CHAIN DUE DILIGENCE…

New legal opinion cautions Philippine company directors to take climate change seriously or risk liability for gross negligence

28 November 2022, London – Directors of Philippine for-profit corporations must take into consideration climate change-related risks in the discharge of their fiduciary duties of obedience and diligence to fulfil their companies’ long-term legal, economic, moral and social obligations towards their shareholders and other stakeholders. Directors must do so in order to abide by the…

Directors’ Duties, Responsibilities and Disclosure Obligations under Philippine Law on Climate Change Risks

Under Philippine Corporation Law, the risks arising from climate change are - as with other foreseeable financial risks - within the scope of directors' duties to act in the best interest of the corporation and its shareholders, according to a new legal opinion dated 18 October 2022. Additionally, directors owe their duties to stakeholders…

Round-up of biodiversity day at COP27 (16 November 2022)

On 16 November 2022, the focus at COP27 shifted to issues relating to biodiversity, paving the way for the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) which is due to take place between 7 and 19 December 2022 in Canada. Key developments of the day included the launch of the Enhancing Nature-based Solutions for Climate Transformation initiative which…

Transition Plan Requirements- Mapping the net-zero transition

A year on from its announcement at COP26, and with the eyes of the world on Egypt’s COP27, the UK Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT) published its Disclosure Framework and related Implementation Guidance yesterday (8 October 2022). The UK Government has stated that it intends to require listed companies, asset managers and regulated asset owners to…

World Energy Outlook 2022 – three scenarios for the energy transition

The International Energy Agency (IEA) advises fossil fuel producing nations on energy policy and produces annual analysis and predictions on energy consumption, production and policy which are regarded as influential by governments and companies. On 27 October, the IEA published its World Energy Outlook 2022 (WEO 2022), its most authoritative source of analysis and projections. …

Climate Change Disclosures: What board directors need to know

Climate-related disclosures are becoming increasingly more common. Several jurisdictions have begun to mandate them, while many others require them on a 'comply or explain' basis and have plans to start mandating them in the coming years. This briefing gives an overview of the importance and relevance of climate-related disclosures to board directors, including a detailed…

Review of second round of public comments to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regarding proposed climate change disclosures

The Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative (CCLI) has conducted a review of the over 1,000 comments to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) submitted by commentators other than individuals, in order to gauge support for the proposed rules and the issues raised by commentators. You can read a summary of the CCLI's…

IPBES ‘Methodological Assessment of the Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature’

The independent intergovernmental biodiversity advisory body called Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has published its Assessment Report on Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature. Jennifer Ramos, our corporate/finance and biodiversity lawyer, and Zaneta Sedilekova, our biodiversity consultant, summarise points from the report which are relevant for commercial and environmental lawyers in…

2nd edition of the Primer on Climate Change: Directors’ Duties and Disclosure Obligations

29 July 2022 - The Climate Governance Initiative (CGI), in collaboration with the Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative (CCLI), today is proud to issue the second edition to the Primer on Climate Change: Directors’ Duties and Disclosure Obligations. This edition provides the latest information for board members around the world on their legal obligations in…

Primer on Climate Change: Directors’ Duties and Disclosure Obligations -2nd Edition

The Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative (CCLI) has worked with the Climate Governance Initiative (CGI) to produce the second edition to the Primer on Climate Change: Directors’ Duties and Disclosure Obligations. The Primer provides an overview of contemporary evidence that climate change presents foreseeable, and in many cases material, financial and systemic risks that…

The development of the ISSB sustainability standards: What does it mean for directors’ legal duties?

The IFRS Foundation's International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) released two Exposure Drafts of proposed sustainability standards on 31 March 2022. These propose disclosures on climate-related financial risks, both as narrative disclosures and in a company's financial statements. In this white paper, Dr. John Purcell FCPA, formerly CPA Australia’s policy adviser for Environmental, Social and…