Lawmakers in the European Parliament voted 361 – 121 to approve the Net-Zero industry Act (NZIA), a new law aimed at supporting EU manufacturing of key technologies needed to achieve Europe’s climate and energy goals. The NZIA was initially proposed by the European Commission in March 2023, forming one of the key elements of its Green Deal Industrial Plan strategy to enhance the competitiveness of Europe’s net zero industries, and supporting the EU’s transition to climate neutrality. With the vote completed, the legislation will now need to be approved by the EU Council before entering into ..read more

Microsoft announced the addition of a series of new capabilities and features to its sustainability solution, Microsoft Sustainability Manager, including tools to enable users to determine the emissions impact of business decisions, analyze and extract data from ESG-related documents, and assess scenarios for water and waste management. Sustainability Manager forms part of Microsoft’s Cloud for Sustainability platform. Microsoft unveiled the platform in 2021, focused on enabling enable companies to record, report, reduce and replace their emissions through Software as a Service (SaaS) tools ..read more

The Canadian Government announced the launch of a new Federal Plastics Registry requiring plastic producers to report on the quantity and type of plastic they place on the Canadian market, and tracking plastic across its lifecycle in the economy, from production through end of life. According to the government’s statement announcing the launch, the new registry supports Canada’s zero plastic waste agenda, which includes a commitment to maintain country-wide data on how plastic moves through the economy. The government added that the registry aims companies across the plastics value chain to ..read more

The UK government announced today that it has confirmed its target mandating at least 10% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in the UK jet fuel mix by 2030. Fuel accounts for the vast majority of the aviation sector’s emissions. Generally produced from sustainable resources, like waste oils and agricultural residues, SAF is seen as one of the key tools to help decarbonize the aviation industry in the near- to medium-term. SAF producers estimate the fuels can result in lifecycle GHG emissions reductions of as much as 85% relative to conventional fuels. Efforts to meaningfully increase the use of ..read more

BlackRock and Temasek’s decarbonization-focused fund Decarbonization Partners announced today that it has raised $1.4 billion at the final close of its inaugural fund, Decarbonization Partners Fund I, well ahead of the firm’s $1 billion fundraising target. Decarbonization Partners was launched by BlackRock and Temasek in 2022, establishing a late-stage venture capital and growth private equity partnership to invest in companies providing technologies and solutions that help accelerate the transition to a net zero economy by 2050. Since launch, the Decarbonization Team has grown to more than ..read more

The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong announced that all listed companies will be required to begin providing mandatory climate-related disclosures based on the IFRS Foundation’s International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) new reporting standards, with Scope 1 and 2 emissions disclosure beginning as of the 2025 reporting year. The announcement follows the launch by the exchange last year of a consultation proposing new climate-related disclosures for companies. The exchange reported that it “received broad-based support for its proposals,” leading to the decision to adopt the consultation ..read more

By: Reinhilde Weidacher, Global Head of Corporate Sustainability Services, ISS-Corporate, and Olivia Windorf, Sustainability Advisor, ISS-Corporate The adoption of the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) signals broad consensus on the importance of robust controls to prevent adverse impacts of business activities on people and the environment. Notwithstanding significant concessions on the ambitious proposal presented by the European Commission over two years ago, this regulation will drive the harmonization of sustainability due diligence obligations in the EU and ..read more

Taiwan-based electronics manufacturing giant Hon Hai Technology Group, known internationally as Foxconn, announced a new pledge to run its worldwide operations on 100% renewable electricity by 2040. The new pledge extends a commitment made by Foxconn in 2022 to use at least 50% green power by 2030. The company’s renewable energy ratio is now greater than 40%. Foxconn also announced in 2020 a goal to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. As the world’s largest electronics contract manufacturer, the new clean energy commitment could help support initiatives by a broad range of companies to addre ..read more

France-based energy giant Total Energies and BlackRock portfolio company Vanguard Renewables announced today an agreement to create a new joint venture to develop, projects to turn food biowaste into renewable natural gas (RNG) in the U.S. RNG, or biomethane, is produced from organic waste, such as agricultural, industrial, and household wastes, and is chemically identical to fossil-based natural gas, enabling it to support the decarbonization of hard-to-abate sectors such as road transport and heavy industry, without needing to replace existing transmission and distribution infrastructure ..read more

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the conduct regulator for financial services firms and financial markets in the UK, announced the launch of a consultation on a new proposal to extend its new Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR), including rules aimed at helping investors assess the sustainability attributes of investment products, and to avoid greenwashing risk, to portfolio managers. The proposal follows the release by the FCA of its SDR requirements for asset managers in November 2023, which included an anti-greenwashing rule for sustainability-related product claims, as wel ..read more