Science-based targets (SBTs) rely on scientific facts to achieve specific conditions or outcomes. SBTs reflect the best available science and set goals intended to prevent human activities from harming the environment....more
President Trump began his second term by issuing a barrage of executive orders, memoranda, and other directives, many of which targeted U.S. energy policy and the federal employees who implement it. Trump had campaigned on...more
The Bonn Climate Change Conference saw limited progress resolving open issues related to Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which aims to incentivize international cooperation in mitigating climate change through carbon credit...more
Recognising the threat of climate change and the importance of sustainable development, Singapore has made a commitment to establishing a robust framework of environmental and climate change laws and regulations – an...more
Akin is participating at COP28 and providing regular updates from the conference. COP28 - December 5, 2023 Recap - - A draft of the first Global Stocktake (GST), the document that assesses countries’ progress toward...more
On October 26, 2023, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) published a report with recommendations for linking climate-related actions taken by non-state actors (NSAs) to the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) established by...more
The 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has commenced this week in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and will run through December 12, 2023. The UAE is...more
Two recent studies show that, by the end of 2023, United States carbon emissions will decrease, despite an expansion in the overall economy of about 2.5 percent. That is, according to the United States Energy Information...more
On September 27, 2023, six “Portuguese young people” were heard by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in a lawsuit against 32 European governments, including all EU member states, alleging that their failure to act...more
According to the 2022 World Energy Outlook of the International Energy Agency, the industry sector generates 45 percent of the total direct emission from end-users and it will be extremely difficult to reach net zero without...more
On September 5, 2023, the Corporate Leaders Group Europe (CLG Europe) published a position paper urging the European Union to cut its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 90% by 2040, and asked EU member states to...more
Each year during the regular session of the United Nations (U.N.) General Assembly, the Climate Group—an international nonprofit that works to address climate change with government leaders and businesses—hosts Climate Week...more
On September 8, 2023, the United Nations published its first Global Stocktake report on the progress made by nations in addressing climate change. The report, which represents the first comprehensive assessment of nearly 200...more
Until now, however, no comprehensive estimate existed of the of that opportunity, (or, to put it another way, the size of the financing gap between committed spending and the investment needed to deliver Net Zero by 2050...more
On April 18, 2023, the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) published a “Net Zero Standard for Oil & Gas.” Development of the Standard follows a two-year collaborative process led by IIGCC with support from...more
In early April, the climate activist shareholder group, Follow This, filed shareholder resolutions seeking stronger energy transition strategies from several oil “super-majors.” The resolutions have been filed in advance of...more
The Net Zero transition will not be smooth. The scale of the investment required and the appetite and ability of countries to implement new policy – both now and in the years to come – will cause unprecedented disruption and...more
Environmental advocacy group As You Sow has sent climate-focused shareholder resolutions to five major U.S. banks. The resolutions request that the banks disclose their climate transition plans for meeting financed emissions...more
As climate change and energy transition play an increasingly important role in the decision-making of private and government entities, one issue is bound to become the focus of attention: Is there a potential conflict between...more
On 15 March 2022, ClientEarth announced that it had written to Shell's board of directors informing them of its intent to bring a claim on behalf of the company for the board's failure to implement a Paris Agreement compliant...more
In our previous post, we highlighted a number of global goals and campaigns aimed at addressing climate change. In this post, we examine climate change-oriented policies and initiatives that are being adopted by many...more
In recent weeks, there has been a lot written about the COP26 United Nations Annual Climate Change Conference, which was held in Glasgow, Scotland between October 31 and November 13, 2021. The central goal of the COP26...more
This is a continuation of a five part series reviewing False Alarm, How Climate Panic Costs us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet, by Bjorn Lomborg....more
Joe Biden’s inauguration as President of the United States promises to bring the issue of climate change to the fore in the United States like never before. There is likely no issue on the horizon more likely to affect the...more
On January 19, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia struck down the Affordable Clean Energy (“ACE”) rule. The Court issued a 185-page opinion (download here) within which it ultimately determined...more