This series of ESG-focused thought leadership webinars will share insights and practical guidance for businesses considering what ESG means for them. Set out are details of our forthcoming demystifying ESG webinar series for 2022 including: regulations, executive pay, climate change, strategic initiatives and corporate responsibility.

The FCA has published a consultation (CP21/34) proposing changes to the Appointed Representatives (AR) regime. In parallel, HM Treasury (HMT) has published a Call for Evidence on possible legislative reforms to the AR regime. These papers present significant, wide-ranging changes that have the potential to seriously impact the way that AR arrangements operate, and the burdens placed on principals in particular.

On 30 November 2021, the FCA published PS21/20 on reforms to UK MiFID’s conduct and organisational requirements, setting out changes to the research rules and, in a move that will no doubt be welcomed by market participants, the removal of the best execution reporting in RTS 27 and RTS 28.

The European Commission has sent a letter to the European Parliament and the Council of the EU announcing a delay to the date of application of regulatory technical standards (RTS) under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). The Commission has now deferred implementation of the SFDR RTS to 1 January 2023.

The third day of COP2 focused on long-term climate finance. Scaled-up public finance commitments are critical to building trust between developed and developing countries, and enabling developing countries to deliver on the “conditional’ elements of their Nationally Determined Contributions.

This video in our On the Ground series – Partner Greg McNab catches up with bp’s Jeff Swartz, Director, Climate – Strategy & Sustainability at COP26 to discuss the Presidency goals of COP26 and how they contribute to bp’s commitment of reaching Net Zero by 2050.

This series of ESG-focused thought leadership webinars will share insights and practical guidance for businesses considering what ESG means for them in the context of the current crisis and beyond. For the 21 October 2021 Special edition, Caitlin McErlane, Ilona Millar and Graham Stuart speak on “Setting the scene – what does the forthcoming COP26 mean for you and your business?”

A series of briefings that take a “bite-size” look at international trends in different jurisdictions, drawing on Baker McKenzie’s expert financial services practitioners.

On 26 July 2021, the European Commission published a set of long-awaited Q&A guidance on the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). On 26 July 2021, the European Commission published a set of long-awaited Q&A guidance on the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). The guidance was published in response to a request for a clarity by the European Supervisory Authorities on a number of specific points, many of which reflected issues raised by market participants that were left struggling to apply the Level 1 text of the Regulation from March this year.

The FCA has written a letter to the chairs of authorised fund managers on improving the quality and clarity of authorised ESG funds, setting out guiding principles on compliance with ESG obligations. The FCA’s letter is driven by concerns about the number of poor quality applications for funds marketed with a sustainability and ESG focus making claims that do not hold up under scrutiny. In the letter, the FCA criticises “the number of poor-quality [ESG/sustainable] fund applications we have seen and the impact this may have on consumers”, and requires material improvements to be made.