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Government Investigations in Singapore 2025
We have contributed the Singapore chapter of Getting the Deal Through, Government Investigations 2025.
Global | Publication | December 2023
The first day of COP28 saw tangible steps taken to reduce the economic burden on developing countries affected by the impact of climate change. This relief has come in the form of a new Loss and Damage Fund, first agreed during COP27 in Egypt last year, and which became operational on 30 November 2023. Since agreement was reached last week participating countries, including the UAE, Germany, the UK, France, Italy, the U.S, Canada and Japan, have already pledged over $650 million to the fund, which will be used to compensate vulnerable countries for “loss and damage” from climate change induced disasters.
Despite the need for urgent action, it appears as though it may be some time before the pledged funds are deployed. In a statement made on Friday 1st December, World Bank president Ajay Banga indicated that project financing would be subject to further technical analysis to be undertaken over the next year. This statement was supported by the South African COP28 negotiating team during a briefing session with the South African Delegation on Monday 4th December, where it was advised that a board would be formed for the Loss and Damage Fund between now and the end of January 2024, and that one of the duties of the board would be to design a strategy for resource allocation and mobilisation.
The manner in which this funding is utilised will bear watching over the coming years. As further elaborated on in the IPCC Working Group II Report on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability published last year, losses and damages are already being experienced, often disproportionately by developing countries and by people who are socio-economically vulnerable.
In this context, it will not be enough to utilise global funding in a strictly reactive manner, such as when disasters such as floods or droughts occur. There must of course be relief in such circumstances, but serious efforts need to be made towards adaptation in order to guard against the effects of climate change.
Publication
We have contributed the Singapore chapter of Getting the Deal Through, Government Investigations 2025.
Publication
The private credit market and direct lending have grown and diversified immensely in the past decade, offering alternative sources and terms of debt compared to those historically provided by the syndicated leveraged loan and public issuance markets. Consequently, they are fast becoming pivotal components in the capital ecosystem, so much so that the Bank of England consider that the private credit market is currently responsible for approximately $1.8 trillion of debt issuance, which is four times its size in 2015. This growth has been particularly pronounced in Europe and the US but there has also been significant activity in Asia.
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The EU’s Artificial Intelligence Regulation, commonly referred to as the AI Act, is expected to come into force during the summer of 2024 (the AI Act). The AI Act will be the first comprehensive legal framework for the use and development of artificial intelligence (AI), and is intended to ensure that AI systems developed and used in the EU are safe, transparent, traceable, non-discriminatory and environmentally friendly.
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