??Via this monthly newsletter, we'll share recent sustainability news on climate change and the business climate reality, including important updates and resources on disclosure laws and reporting standards. Be sure to also check out our linked roundup of noteworthy Tango news, educational resources, and blogs!
Energy Market Update
~Hot Start to the Summer Keeps Natural Gas Out of the Ground~
The August ’24 natural gas contract is trading at $2.73/MMbtu. The EIA reported an injection of 52 Bcf into underground storage for the week ending June 21, 2024. As we move into the last few days of June, there are scattered above and below-average temperature forecasted in the near term. Most of the warmer weather is occurring in the southern half of the country and moving over the majority of the country towards the middle of July.
Natural gas inventories are 11.3% more than the same period last year and 20.6% more than the 5-year average. This is coming in lower than last year's number, as well as the 5-year average for the third week in a row since the hot start to the summer has kept some more natural gas out of the ground.
?? Sustainability??
?? Roundup of Blogs & Tango Updates
Notable Sustainability News
From June 2024 and beyond. Catch up on the latest updates in the ESG and sustainability space that you might have missed. Our roundup of topics and important announcements have you covered.
Articles on Corporate Sustainability, Regulation, & Global Events
- Independently verifiable international standard on net zero gets underway, BSI.
ISO has just announced the launch of a program to develop an "ISO Net Zero Aligned Organisations Standard"
- GHG Protocol Launches Official Partnership
with IFRS Foundation. This memorandum of understanding will guide future work and collaboration between GHG Protocol and the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB)
, further solidifying ISSB as a global interoperable standard setter.
- ISSB delivers further harmonization of the sustainability disclosure landscape as it embarks on the new work plan
with developments in strategic relationships between ISSB and each of the Transition Plan Taskforce, GHG Protocol, CDP, Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures and Global Reporting Initiative.
- Supreme Court Overturns Chevron Doctrine, Nature.
The decisions will affect how federal courts consider the implementation of federal laws (including foundational environmental laws, such as the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act) by a federal agency. Read more about implications for major environmental laws here >>
- CDP's latest report, The State of Play: 2023 Climate Transition Plan Disclosure
, shines a spotlight on how far along organizations are on their journey to developing credible climate transition plans.
- Technology’s Role in Improving Climate Disclosures, WSJ.
Scenario analysis and data integration can help tame the complexities of sustainability reporting
- Climate Disclosure Update
from Harvard Business Review covers major disclosure laws including the SEC Climate Rule, the EU CSRD, and the California rulings.
- The Biden administration in early April voluntarily paused the climate disclosure
rule in the face of nearly a dozen lawsuits. Now, SEC climate rule critics make their case in court in first stage of proceedings, Politico.
- In a nearly unanimous vote (88-2), the US Senate passed the ADVANCE Act (Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy). This bill will enable the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to approve licenses for nuclear facilities much quicker and cheaper
.
- This year’s edition of the World Energy Investment from the Internation Energy Agency provides a full update on the investment picture in 2023 and an initial reading of the emerging picture for 2024. Read here >>
The report revealed that investments in clean energies will reach $2 trillion for the first time, doubling investments in fossil fuels.
- Only 29% of companies ready for ESG assurance, KPMG finds.
- While legal challenges to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) final climate disclosure rule have prompted the SEC to stay the effective date of the requirements
, companies have many reasons to continue
with implementation efforts to help prepare for a host of new reporting requirements around the globe, WSJ.
Articles on Climate & Environment
- More than 70 million Americans - about one in five of the population - are living under heat alerts as temperatures soar, BBC.
- Swiss Re, one of the world’s biggest reinsurers, has said the industry significantly underestimated the fallout from recent natural disasters across Europe and warned that some areas have become “uninsurable”, Financial Times.
Global insured losses from natural catastrophes exceeded $100bn for the fourth consecutive year in 2023.
- Global carbon dioxide emissions might have already peaked, according to new estimates, signaling a potentially monumental shift, NY Times.
- The planet just marked a “shocking” new milestone, enduring 12 consecutive months of unprecedented heat,
according to new data from Copernicus, the European Union’s climate monitoring service, CNN.
- Oceans face ‘triple threat’ of extreme heat, oxygen loss and acidification. A fifth of world’s ocean surface particularly vulnerable to threats driven by burning fossil fuel and deforestation, new research finds.
?? Sustainability Reporting?Regulations & Standards: The Updates
SEC Climate Related Disclosures
- The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals has now set a schedule for the litigation over SEC’s Climate Rule. The Biden administration in early April voluntarily paused the climate disclosure
rule in the face of nearly a dozen lawsuits. Now, SEC climate rule critics make their case in court in first stage of proceedings, Politico.
- The SEC stayed
its new climate rule
in April, less than one month after its release, due to the multiple legal challenges
that were filed.
- Majority of Lawyers Expect SEC’s Climate Disclosure Rule Will Not Survive Intact: Bloomberg Survey
California Climate Disclosure Rules:
European Commission: ESRS under the CSRD
ISSB
The?International Sustainability Standards Board IFRS S1 & S2
- ISSB now has strategic relationships with the Transition Plan Taskforce, GHG Protocol, CDP, Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures and Global Reporting Initiative.
- Access the ESRS–ISSB Standards Interoperability Guidance: https://lnkd.in/dE5KNHeZ
- The IFRS released the inaugural general sustainability (IFRS S1) and climate (IFRS S2) reporting standards in June 2023
.
- Following the release of the standards last year, IOSCO, the leading international policy forum and standards setter for securities regulators called on regulators to incorporate the standards
into their sustainability reporting regulatory frameworks.
- The IFRS Foundation reported
that to date, more than 20 jurisdictions have decided to use the ISSB standards, or are taking steps to introduce the standards in their own frameworks, with the jurisdictions representing nearly 55% of global GDP, more than 40% of global market capitalization, and over half of global greenhouse gas emissions. (the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not formally adopted IFRS/ISSB standards but has largely modeled them in its new climate disclosure rule)
- Inaugural Jurisdictional Guide for the adoption or other use of ISSB Standards
- CDP has partnerships with the ISSB, TNFD, EFRAG, and other global frameworks
- Discover the latest insights and updates in the CDP Bulletin Linkedin Newsletter
- The CDP Portal
is now open for corporate disclosers, ahead of the reporting window opening on June 4.
Insightful Reports
- This year’s edition of the World Energy Investment from the Internation Energy Agency provides a full update on the investment picture in 2023 and an initial reading of the emerging picture for 2024. Read here >>
The report revealed that investments in clean energies will reach $2 trillion for the first time, doubling investments in fossil fuels.
- Assessing climate transition risk: methodologies and roles for financial institutions, UNEP
- The Global Electricity Review
provides the first comprehensive overview of the global power system in 2023 based on country-level data.
- The World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report
explores some of the most severe risks we may face over the next decade, against a backdrop of rapid technological change, economic uncertainty, a warming planet and conflict. (published Jan 10, 2024)
- The UN’s global report card
as part of the “The Global Stocktake
” assessed progress since the 2015 Paris Agreement.
- Investing in American Energy report
by the US Department of Energy (DOE). Significant Impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law on the U.S. Energy Economy and Emissions Reductions
- Struggling with the details of?ISSB?/?IFRS,?ESRS?/?CSRD?or just overall?ESG?or?sustainability?frameworks? Check out the detailed analysis, tips and guidelines from WBCSD – World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
More WatchWire by Tango Resources:
Our brand new Journey to Decarbonization Guide is here! In it, we discuss the benefits of decarbonizing and provide tips for businesses looking to begin their journey toward decarbonizing their portfolios to meet sustainability goals and comply with evolving regulations and investor expectations.?
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