The new measures include changes to grid access permits and a new remuneration regime for renewables, among other provisions. By María José Descalzo, José María Alonso, and Leticia Sitges On 23 June, the Spanish Government passed Royal Decree-Law 23/2020, which entered into force on 25 June, approving new measures in the energy sector that aim to promote renewable energy generation and support the recovery of the economy in line with the European Green…

Recent developments concern the EU taxonomy, the EU green bond standard, and new sustainability-linked bonds By Paul A. Davies and Michael D. Green Earlier this month (June 2020), the EU released answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the work of the European Commission (the Commission) and the Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance (TEG) regarding the sustainable finance taxonomy (the Taxonomy) and the EU Green Bond Standard (EU GBS). Additionally, the Commission released an…

A new draft environmental impact statement on the scope of liability under the MBTA available for public comment. By Janice M. Schneider, Taiga Takahashi, and Julie Miles The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) recently took another step toward narrowing its interpretation of liability under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) by issuing a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS). MBTA regulations currently protect 1,093 species of migratory birds. (See 50 CFR §10.13 for…

Increasing interest in ESG issues presents an opportunity for sponsors to re-evaluate their existing ESG strategies. By Paul A. Davies, Nicola Higgs, Farah O’Brien, and Hannah Berdal The COVID-19 pandemic continues to present unprecedented challenges for European  private equity firms and their portfolio companies. A significant number of companies have been forced to undertake emergency liquidity measures, make difficult decisions to ensure the health and safety of their workforce, and pivot their…

New definition of “waters of the United States” takes effect June 22, 2020 everywhere except Colorado under split decisions. By Janice M. Schneider and Peter R. Viola In the closely watched battle over the scope of the Clean Water Act (CWA), a federal court in California has denied a motion brought by a coalition of states to stay the Trump Administration’s rule narrowing the law’s reach. However, the federal court in Colorado has enjoined the…

The Initiative aims to promote sustainability in both the batteries value chain and the growing electric vehicle market. By Paul A. Davies and Federica Rizzo On 28 May 2020, the European Commission (EC) published its Inception Impact Assessment (IIA) to modernize the EU’s batteries legislation, in particular Directive 2006/66/EC of 6 September 2006 on batteries and accumulators, and waste batteries and accumulators (the so-called “Batteries Directive”). The Initiative is in line with the European Green…

By Paul A. Davies and Michael D. Green As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause economic disruption, the UK government (government) has established five working groups tasked with discussing and evaluating economic recovery measures. The groups will focus on five key themes, including “Green recovery: how to capture economic growth opportunities from the shift to net zero carbon emissions”.…