Financial Services Regulatory Developments in ESG

Global | Publication | May 2023

As our clients look to transition towards a more sustainable and profitable future, they require strategic legal advice across a wide range of regulatory issues including in relation to sustainable finance, disclosures, greenwashing and safeguarding against contentious risks.

We have identified 6 ‘pillars’ for assisting clients in the ESG space.

Latest insights

Governance and sustainability

Firms have been incorporating and gradually increasing sustainability themes into their operations, products and services, for some time. Many have also begun to look beyond climate change, considering wider environmental issues, such as nature and biodiversity, as well as social and governance issues, such as diversity and inclusion. What has become more apparent is that these themes are being incorporated across the organisation, and not just within its products and services, gradually permeating into the DNA of the firm and its values.

United Kingdom | Publication | August 14, 2023

Ten key steps to reduce the risk of a greenwashing regulatory enquiry

Identifying and preventing greenwashing is a growing priority for a number of regulators around the world and is a key aspect of tackling wider environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues in a number of sectors. Greenwashing has been described by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as “marketing that portrays an organisation’s products, activities or policies as producing positive environmental outcomes when this is not the case”. It can be present in, for example, a firm’s advertising of its products, or in a firm’s disclosures about its business.

United Kingdom | Publication | August 08, 2023

ClientEarth fails in judicial review against Financial Conduct Authority

ClientEarth, an environmental charity that seeks to bring legal challenges in respect of entities that it considers have not discharged their environmental responsibilities, has failed in its attempt to judicially review a decision of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to approve the prospectus of a UK oil and gas company, Ithaca Energy plc (Ithaca). Ithaca’s flotation was the UK’s largest public listing of 2022.

Global | Blog | June 22, 2023

Directive on Green Claims

In March 2023, the European Commission (Commission) adopted a proposal for a Directive on substantiation and communication of explicit environmental claims. The draft Directive is commonly known as the Directive on green claims.

United Kingdom | Publication | May 24, 2023

EBA consults on draft guidelines on the benchmarking of diversity practices including policies and gender pay gap under the CRD IV and IFD

On 24 April 2023, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published a consultation paper on draft guidelines on the benchmarking of diversity practices including diversity policies and gender pay gap under the Capital Requirements Directive IV (CRD IV) and the Investment Firms Directive (IFD).

United Kingdom | Publication | April 25, 2023

FCA publishes consultation paper on SDR and investment labelling

On 25 October 2022, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published its long-awaited consultation paper on Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) and investment labelling (CP22/20).

United Kingdom | Publication | November 03, 2022

Webinars and Podcasts

Regulation Tomorrow Plus - What to expect in 2023?

In this episode, our London Financial Services & Regulation partners reflect on some of the key UK regulatory themes from the past year and what we expect to come down the track in 2023 including Consumer Duty and ESG.

United Kingdom | Articles | December 19, 2022

ESG: Key regulatory risks in the UK and US and practical steps to manage them

In our next episode of RT Plus, Katie Stephen, Co-Head of our Contentious Financial Services Group in London, and Celia Cohen, Co-Head of Financial Institutions in the United States, discuss the key regulatory risks for financial services firms in their respective jurisdictions around Environmental, Social and Governance issues. Katie and Celia also give us their practical tips on what firms can be doing now to help manage those risks.

Global | Articles | August 22, 2022

ESG regulation: Global themes and what's on the horizon

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) is a key area of importance for businesses globally as the legal and regulatory landscape changes and expectations of investors, customers, employees and other stakeholders grow.

Global | Webinar | November 18, 2021

Key resources

Environmental, social and governance (ESG)

Our lawyers advise clients across all sectors on ESG risks and compliance measures, helping businesses manage their risk...

Greenwashing and climate disputes

In the last few years we have seen an exponential rise in climate litigation claims, and many of these are as a result o...

Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DE&I) for financial services

DE&I is rising to the top of the regulatory agenda and is an important component of the ‘G’ in ESG. Research shows evid...

Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation Project Manager

Stay ahead of the fast-approaching new sustainability disclosure and transparency requirements

Global Regulation Tomorrow

Tracks financial services regulatory developments and provides insight and commentary.

Global Regulation Tomorrow podcast

If you want to stay up-to-date on the latest developments in the world of risk and regulation, the Global Regulation Tom...

ESG Updater

Keep ahead of ESG developments in financial services. We publish a regular ESG updater which tracks regulatory developments in the ESG space. Previous ESG updaters are located down the page.

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