As the COVID-19 crisis continues to evolve rapidly, governments are taking increasingly restrictive measures on the types of activities that may be undertaken, when activities may be conducted, with whom the activities may be conducted and for how long. These measures are now also being imposed on large companies and…
Investment in renewable energies is a vital part of the global strategy to address climate change. Many States provide strong support and incentives to encourage investments and accelerate the growth of this sector. Other States, such as Spain, Italy and the Czech Republic, have withdrawn incentives or subsidies that were…
The Baker McKenzie Global Climate Change practice expects 2020 to bring both scaled up developments and new challenges in a broad-based response to climate change. Given widespread coverage of the shortcomings of last December’s climate negotiations in Madrid, it may seem counterintuitive to anticipate positive movement on climate action this…
The Green New Deal is the flagship of the new European Commission (2020-2025), which has recently shed light on the likely substance of the initiative in a new Communication. The main ‘headline’ is that the EU Member States have agreed (by unanimity minus one, Poland) to put into law a…
The Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) have released Proposed Environment Protection Regulations (Proposed Regulations) to simplify and support Victoria’s new environmental protection laws. Background On 1 July 2020, the amendments to Victoria’s Environment Protection Act 2017, which implement the substantive…
On 12 August 2019, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) released updates to two important Regulatory Guides (RGs) to formally include climate change as a risk that issuers should consider disclosing in a prospectus for retail clients (RG228) or in a company’s operating and financial review (RG247). This is…
In 2015, Vicinity Centres—a leading Australian real estate group with holdings that include Sydney’s Queen Victoria Building, along with iconic buildings in other major cities—began a process of identifying their risks and opportunities in light of climate change. Then, in early 2017, Cyclone Debbie struck off the coast of Queensland, devastating communities and…