Last week the US Department of Labor (âDOLâ) published a notice requesting information and comments on the following three reports on child labor and forced labor practices in foreign countries published by the US Bureau of International Labor Affairs (âILABâ): (1) the 2019 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child…
In brief On 14 December 2020, the government published a new set of guidance for employers on their…
In brief On 24 November, Glass Lewis published its 2021 Proxy Voting Guidelines for the United Kingdom (UK).…
In brief #MeToo, Black Lives Matter and other issues have raised inclusion to the top of the corporate agenda. Â Some employers are now considering radical measures to remove barriers to progress. In doing so, they must consider the UK’s legal framework and in particular, the line between lawful positive action…
In brief A tech-entwined world necessarily puts focus on technology companies and the opportunities that arise with them.…
Over the past two weeks, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (âOFACâ) published a series of FAQs related to Executive…
Baker McKenzieâs Energy and Environmental Groups held a webinar to examine what is in store for the energy sector under a Biden Administration and his ambitious plan for a “Clean Energy Revolution and Environmental Justice.” The panel spoke on the potential impacts of the Biden Administration’s immediate and long-term actions…
On 29 November 2020, Swiss voters opted for the introduction of EU-style ESG reporting and due diligence requirements and against the so-called Responsible Business Initiative. While the initiative would have added teeth to the civil liability regime for the violation of international human rights and environmental standards across the supply chain, the substantive requirements regarding ESG reporting and due diligence across the extended enterprise are not any lighter under the chosen approach. We expect that affected companies will have to apply the new requirements in financial year 2023.
On November 30, 2020, Ordinance No. 589/2020 was published to update guidelines and criteria applicable to the environmental conciliation phase of IBAMA and ICMBio’s administrative procedures, while lasts the public health emergency situation caused by the pandemic of coronavirus (Covid-19).
President-Elect Joseph R. Biden comes to office with what has, correctly, been called a “transformational” plan for action to curb climate change and to cope with its unavoidable consequences.
The cornerstone of his policy1Â â officially called the Biden Plan for a Clean Energy Revolution and Environmental Justice â is to recommit the United States to the Paris Agreement on climate change, and to set a target for the US to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. That target is generally accepted as being in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change which seeks to limit global climate heating to well below 2Â degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and ideally, to keep it closer to 1.5 degrees.2
The impact of the world’s largest economy pivoting to this new policy cannot be understated. It is particularly important given that it tops off two months in which several of the world’s major economies have now announced net-zero commitments.