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Invesco Joins List of Investors Exiting Climate Action 100+

Invesco Joins List of Investors Exiting Climate Action 100+

Global asset manager Invesco has withdrawn from Climate Action 100+, a climate-focused investor network focused on engaging with companies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and implement climate transition plans. The firm’s withdrawal forms the latest in a growing series of investors who have recently chosen to exit the group, which now include JPMorgan Asset Management (JPMAM), State Street Global…

EU Lawmakers Agree on Rules to Ban Products Made with Forced Labor

EU Lawmakers Agree on Rules to Ban Products Made with Forced Labor

Lawmakers in the European Parliament and Council announced that they have reached a provisional agreement on new rules banning products made with forced labor from being sold on the EU market, or exported. The agreement follows an initial proposal by the European Commission in September 2022 aimed at addressing modern slavery, directing customs authorities to identify and stop products made…

BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS: EU POLITICAL AGREEMENT ON FORCED LABOR PRODUCT BAN

On March 5, 2024, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union reached a “political agreement” on a Regulation prohibiting products made with forced labor on the European Union (“EU“) market.1 While binding legislation was initially proposed by the European Commission (“Commission“) in September 2022 (see Legal Update of 14 September 2022), the agreement reached on March 5, 2024 provides…

Singapore to Provide Funding for Companies to Meet New Climate Reporting Requirements

Singapore to Provide Funding for Companies to Meet New Climate Reporting Requirements

The government of Singapore announced the launch of a new Sustainability Reporting Grant, providing companies with support covering up to nearly a third of the cost of producing their first sustainability reports. The new grant system follows the government’s announcement last week that it will introduce mandatory climate-related reporting requirements for listed and large non-listed companies, based on the IFRS…

Too Much Leeway Offered by Updated ASEAN Taxonomy

Second version of the voluntary guidance limits utility to investors by allowing companies and countries to “pick and choose”.  The recently finalised iteration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) sustainable finance taxonomy has “room for improvement”, after falling short on interoperability and defining low-carbon activities.   According to the ASEAN Taxonomy Board, Version 2 (V2) of the taxonomy, which went…

China’s Transition Woes  

As it struggles to kick its coal habit, the country moves forward on transition and reporting requirements to stay on track with climate commitments.   Reality certainly did not match rhetoric on climate action last year. A host of oil majors receded on their climate commitments, key financial institutions started to leave climate action consortiums, and major economies like the…

Canada Issues $4 Billion Green Bond

Canada Issues $4 Billion Green Bond

The Government of Canada announced that it has completed the issuance of a C$4 billion green bond, the country’s second, and the first by a sovereign issuer to include nuclear energy expenditures as an eligible use for proceeds. The new offering follows the release late last year by the government of its updated Green Bond Framework, which added some nuclear…

Sunfire Raises $340 Million for Clean Hydrogen Production Tech

Sunfire Raises $340 Million for Clean Hydrogen Production Tech

German electrolyzer manufacturer Sunfire announced today that it has raised €315 million (USD$342 million), including €215 million in a Series E equity financing round, and a term loan of up to €100 million provided by the European Investment Bank (EIB), with proceeds aimed at accelerating the growth and industrialization of its green hydrogen technologies. Founded in 2010, Dresden-based Sunfire produces…

Fitch Appoints Marcy Block to New Role of Global Head of ESG Ratings

Fitch Appoints Marcy Block to New Role of Global Head of ESG Ratings

Fitch Group’s sustainability-focused analytics business Sustainable Fitch announced the appointment of Marcy Block to the new role of Global Head of ESG Ratings for Sustainable Fitch, with responsibility for managing the company’s largest analytical group which serves primarily public market and investment grade constituents. Block joined Fitch Ratings in 2013, and has led Fitch Ratings’ Climate Risk Development Group since…

Geothermal Startup Fervo Energy Raises $244 Million for 24/7 Carbon-free Energy Solution

Geothermal Startup Fervo Energy Raises $244 Million for 24/7 Carbon-free Energy Solution

Geothermal energy startup Fervo Energy today announced that it has raised $244 million, with proceeds from the new financing aimed at advancing the deployment of its round-the-clock clean energy solution. Founded in 2017, Houston Texas-based Fervo Energy focuses on the development of geothermal projects to deliver carbon-free energy. The company uses techniques such as horizontal drilling and distributed fiber optic…