Mia Mottley says conversations on climate finance for developing nations must move from commitments to action.   Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley plans to convene actors from the private and public sector to create viable contractual frameworks for blended finance deals ahead of COP28 in Dubai.  Speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative 2023 meeting, on a panel with Noel…

Two new bills have been passed in California as part of a “Climate Accountability Package” that require U.S.-based companies “doing business”[1] in California to make disclosures about their emissions and climate-related financial risks. These are (a) the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (California Senate Bill 253 (SB-253)) and (b) the Climate-Related Financial Risk Act (California Senate Bill 261 (SB-261)). The…

Heat-related illnesses and deaths are mostly preventable. However, more than 1220 people die from extreme heat each year, with 3066 succumbing from heat-related illnesses between 2018-2022. During the Summer of 2023, there were 194 confirmed heat-associated deaths in just one Arizona county, while hundreds of other deaths are still under investigation. A recent study estimated that temperature-related deaths in the U.S. could increase fivefold by 2100. Exposure to…

Companies are increasingly recognising that climate risk poses “strategic and operational risk” that could severely impact business operations. On 3 August 2023, United Nations Global Compact released Just Transition in Supply Chains: A Business Brief (the “Brief”).  At the heart of the Brief is a call for businesses to embed the concept of ‘just transition’ into supply chain risk management,…

On 24 August 2023, through Decree No. 11,666/2023, the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was enacted in Brazil (the “Amendment“). It was at MOP 28 (Meeting of the Parties) of the Montreal Protocol, in 2016, in the city of Kigali, Rwanda, that the Parties agreed to include HFCs among the substances controlled…

It’s all over but the shouting, as the saying goes. The war on ESG investing, financed by Big Business and waged by political opportunists who built a straw man out of “woke capitalism,” is rapidly running out of steam. “Recent polls show limited enthusiasm among the public for the ‘anti-woke’ culture war that GOP politicians have launched against corporations’ handling…

The EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (“CSRD“) entered into force on 5 January 2023 and the associated European Sustainability Reporting Standards (“ESRS“) were adopted by the European Commission on 31 July 2023. Together, the CSRD and ESRS create detailed sustainability reporting requirements that will apply to a significant number of EU and non-EU companies and substantially increase the scope of…

By delivering transparent, data-driven assessments of corporate sustainability performance inspired by the ISSB framework, the ESG Performance Score is a next generation solution to meet increasingly complex market requirements. In this report, we present a practical method for enhancing the sustainability profile of a portfolio by adopting an ESG Performance Score weighted approach, using the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index…

This month’s policy digest highlights notable sustainability-related policy developments in Europe and Asia-Pacific. At a global level, external assurance on sustainability reporting was addressed by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) in a new exposure draft for a proposed global sustainability assurance standard. On 17th August 2023, the EU took steps towards mandating importers of goods under the…