ESG Newsletter - May 2024
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ESG regulations continue to grow rapidly in scope and variety, covering a wide range of corporate activities with the aim of stimulating markets, changing behaviour, creating transparency and monitoring compliance. Government bodies and regulators will have increasing powers and responsibilities for monitoring and enforcement, with new regulators being created in some markets.
With this newsletter, we regularly provide an overview of the hot topics of our consulting practice in the field of ESG.
Also available in German here.
Current European plans to promote hydrogen technologies: The Net Zero Industry Act
Anja Holtermann, LL.M., Dr. Matthias Lang
The plans for the use of green hydrogen and its production are known to be ambitious. While Germany, in the short to medium term, is primarily focusing on importing hydrogen from outside Europe, the plans at European level envisage a significant ramp-up of production capacities within the EU.
Data centres & waste heat: An overview of the legal requirements for waste heat utilisation
Anja Holtermann, LL.M., Dr. Matthias Lang
Data centres consume a lot of electricity, accounting for almost 3% of total electricity demand across the EU, and this proportion is likely to increase further. The amended Energy Efficiency Directive now also focuses on the energy efficiency of data centres, among other things.
The new European Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and legal entities under public law
Guido Bormann, Marcin Bartkowiak, Johannes Woltering
On 24 April 2024, the European Parliament adopted the adapted version of the proposed Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) after the European Council approved the text of the CSDDD on 15 March 2024.
European Parliament adopts revised CSDDD proposal
Felix Schmidtke, Dr. Matthias Spilker, LL.M.
On 24 April 2024, the European Parliament adopted the compromised version of the proposed Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD, also known as CS3D), following its approval by the European Council on 15 March 2024. This is another decisive step for the European Union (EU) in anchoring binding ESG regulations. In this article we provide you with an overview of the lengthy negotiations at EU level and the final (most important) provisions of the CSDDD.
Carrying out and bearing the costs of modernisation measures in ongoing tenancies
Amelia Weber, Finja Schlingmann
Accounting for over 30 % of greenhouse gas emissions in Germany, the building sector plays a decisive role in achieving climate targets. One focus is therefore on the energy modernisation of existing buildings.
ESG and labour law: What is behind the "S"?
Questions relating to the significance and implementation of ESG criteria have long been part of day-to-day labour law consulting practice. Many companies are already showing a heightened awareness of sustainable and social corporate governance. Nevertheless, the question often arises as to what exactly is behind the individual areas - "environmental", "social" and "governance" - from an employment law perspective.
Having dealt with the "E" in the first instalment of our series of articles on ESG and labour law, we are now focusing on the "S". In the following, we would like to provide an overview of some of the topics that are particularly relevant from a labour law perspective in connection with social sustainability.
The influence of energy efficiency on the sales value of a property: prospects for investors and lenders
Dr. Matthias Winter, Simon Schulz
The building sector is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases in Europe. In 2023, the building sector was responsible for 40% of all CO2 emissions in the EU. In Germany, the share of CO2 equivalents emitted was around 102 million tonnes. Although this represents a decrease of around 7.5% in Germany compared to 2022, the projection values published by the Federal Environment Agency for 2030 fall short of the target by 32 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents.
News on CSRD and its implementation in Germany
Dr. Michael Jünemann, Timo Förster
The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive ("CSRD") obliges many companies to include sustainability-related disclosures in their annual financial statements . This article will focus on two new developments regarding the introduction of the CSRD.
