Publication
M&A hub: Developments driving and shaping M&A
Key legal and regulatory developments driving and shaping M&A
United Kingdom | Publication | September 2023
On 18 September 2024, the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) published its final Recommendations for nature-related risk management and disclosure. These provide companies and financial institutions of all sizes with a risk management and disclosure framework to identify, assess, manage and, where appropriate, disclose nature-related issues.
The TNFD Recommendations build on those of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and they include 14 recommended disclosures covering nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities. They have been designed to:
An accompanying suite of additional guidance has also been released to help market participants begin to develop integrated assessment and corporate reporting related to nature. This can be accessed via the Recommendations and the Executive Summary (see links below). It includes particular guidance for financial institutions, with further sector and biome guidance to be developed.
The TNFD is encouraging and supporting voluntary market adoption of the Recommendations and, following the example of the TCFD, the TNFD will track voluntary market adoption on an annual basis through an annual status update report beginning in 2024. The TNFD is expecting companies to start announcing their intention to adopt the Recommendations shortly. GSK are reported to have announced they are committed to publishing their first TNFD disclosures from 2026, based on 2025 data. Others are expected to signal similar intentions soon and the TNFD will announce an inaugural list of TNFD Adopters, companies that have indicated their intention to start adopting the Recommendations, at the World Economic Forum at Davos in January 2024.
(TNFD, Recommendations of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, 18.09.2023)
(TNFD, Executive Summary of the TFND Recommendations, 18.09.2023)
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Key legal and regulatory developments driving and shaping M&A
Publication
The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (the Recast EPBD) entered into force on 28 May 2024. The Recast EPBD repeals the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive 2010 (the Repealed EPBD). The Repealed EPBD will remain as transposed in the laws of England and Wales, and the Recast EPDB will only be transposed into the national legislation of EU Member States. The overarching aims of the revisions set out in the Recast EPBD reflect the common themes of European climate legislation to speed up the transition to renewables and rapidly reduce energy consumption. We set out below a summary of the key provisions under the Recast EPBD, when the provisions take effect and a comparison with the Repealed EPBD.
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On 21 May 2024, the European Council (or Council) adopted the so-called ‘Hydrogen and decarbonised gas market package’ (the Gas Package). The package contains a recast of the 715/2009 gas regulation (Gas Regulation) and a recast of the 2009/73 gas directive (Gas Directive) aimed at reforming the existing EU regulatory framework to support the deployment of renewable and low-carbon gases, in particular hydrogen. As such, it represents a major development in the EU gas market.
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