Author: Jasmin Fraser Date: 2 December 2024 The 16th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, known as the COP16, took place from 21 October to 1 November 2024 in Cali, Colombia. COP16 had a tough act to follow – at COP15, the long-anticipated Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) was adopted. Our key…
Author: Jasmin Fraser and Isabella Seitz Date: 13 August 2024 In a move towards increased corporate accountability, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) was published in the EU Official Journal on 5 July 2024. Member States are required to adopt and publish the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the CSDDD…
In case you missed the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) webinar on 11 July 2024 titled, “Boards and nature - the evolving landscape for director’s duties”, the recording has now been made available here . The Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative (CCLI)’s Board Members, Cynthia Williams and Sarah Barker, were panelists on the webinar. …
Author: Jasmin Fraser and Jenni Ramos Date: 18 June 2024 Lobbying is common among businesses. But where does it cross the line from well-founded engagement to greenwashing? In this blog post, we highlight how the ‘say-do’ gap - the gap between what companies say they are doing and what representatives of their business or their…
Authors: Param Pandya and Jasmin Fraser Date: 28 May 2024 The Commonwealth Climate & Law Initiative (CCLI) and the EW Barker Centre for Law and Business (EWBCLB), National University of Singapore, co-organised the 'Private Roundtable: Global Regulatory Enforcement Approaches to Tackle Greenwashing: Lessons for Asia' (the Private Roundtable) at the National University of Singapore. …
Date: 13 March 2024 Directors should consider their company’s nature-related risks as part of their duties to promote the success of the company and act with reasonable care, skill and diligence, according to an independent legal opinion dated 11 March 2024, commissioned by the CCLI and Pollination. A team of corporate and financial law barristers…
Author: Alex Cooper Date: 15 May 2023 On Friday 12 May 2023, the High Court refused permission for the UK environmental NGO to continue its derivative action against the board of Shell plc, according to reporting by ESG Today. This is an initial order by the court, and developments in the case will not stop…
Author: Zili Duniya Bungwon Date: 17 April 2023 On 28th March the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) released the fourth and final prototype of its framework, which will be followed by its final recommendations in September 2023. The first three beta versions of the TNFD’s framework were released in 2022, followed by market pilot…
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…
Authors: Zaneta Sedilekova (blog post), Jenni Ramos (Jargon Buster) Date: 23 January 2023 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…
Author: Alex Cooper Date: 16 January 2023 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…
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…
Author: Alex Cooper
Date: 9 November 2022
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,…
Author: Alex Cooper Date: 31 October 2022 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…
Jenni Ramos, Alex Cooper and Zaneta Sedilekova explore how the interconnection between climate, biodiversity and just transition impacts on the performance of director’s duties. Last month the World Biodiversity Summit (part of New York Climate Week) convened to explore joint solutions to the biodiversity and climate crises. With COP27 in November (featuring a day on…
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…
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…
26 July 2022 - Directors of Malaysian companies are legally required to incorporate climate change considerations into their decision-making processes, according to a legal opinion released on 26 July 2022. A failure to do so may be a breach of a director’s legal duties and could expose them to litigation from shareholders or enforcement action from the regulatory authorities. Tan…