Sustainability/ESG Bulletin, 1 April 2022

In this week’s sustainability/ESG bulletin, we bring details of Cabinet’s approval of Ireland’s new Circular Economy Bill. Also covered are EU developments, the release of sustainability-related strategies in both the Republic and Northern Ireland, technical updates, and a link to listen back to our interview with Sustainability Expert Rosie Dunscombe.

In the news

Ireland’s Circular Economy Bill receives Cabinet approval 

In what has been described as a landmark Bill that will introduce world-leading moves to reduce waste and influence behaviour, the Circular Economy Bill received Cabinet approval this week. The new legislation will underpin Ireland’s shift from a ‘take-make-waste’ linear model to a more sustainable pattern of production and consumption that will instead minimise waste to help significantly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Click here for details of the Bill, particularly what it will mean for businesses.

EU Commission to empower consumers for the green transition

The EU has also taken action on the circular economy this week. The European Commission is proposing new consumer rights and a ban on greenwashing. It announced proposals to amend the Consumer Rights Directive to oblige traders to provide consumers with information on the durability and reparability of products, and is also proposing several amendments to the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD). The rules will strengthen consumer protection against untrustworthy or false environmental claims, banning ‘greenwashing’ (a form of corporate misrepresentation where a company will present a green public image and publicise green initiatives that are false or misleading) and banning practices misleading consumers about the durability of a product. 

Sustainability-related strategies

Sustainability-related strategies were in the news last week in both Ireland and Northern Ireland:

• The first ever Further Education and Training (FET) Green Skills Summit in Ireland took place last week, led by SOLAS, the Further Education and Training Authority in collaboration with Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI). The summit addressed the green economy as an area of opportunity, and pointed to the key challenge of upskilling and reskilling for changes to existing roles. Speaking at the summit, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris described it is “an important step in our response to the challenge of climate change and the targets we have set for ourselves at a national level.”

   

• Northern Ireland’s first overarching Environment Strategy was given approval by Northern Ireland’s Environment Minister Edwin Poots . The strategy sets out Northern Ireland’s environmental priorities for the coming decades and forms part of the Executive’s Green Growth agenda. Commenting, Minister Poots said the Strategy “will provide a coherent response to the global challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change.” The draft strategy, which will have to be formally approved by an incoming Executive before it can be published, can be found here.

Technical Updates

• The European Commission’s advisory Platform on Sustainable Finance has published its final report on how to bring investments in line with four environmental priorities of the EU’s taxonomy of green investments which are:
  • Ensuring a sustainable use of water and marine resources
  • Protecting and restoring biodiversity and ecosystems
  • Transitioning to a circular economy; and
  • Preventing and controlling pollution.

  Recommendations made in the report include giving a green label to activities that meet specific environmental criteria (additional criteria are expected to be recommended by the Platform in May). The Commission is expected to publish a Delegated Act later this year.

   

• The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has launched a consultation on its first two proposed standards. One sets out general sustainability-related disclosure requirements and the other specifies climate-related disclosure requirements. Find out more here.

   

• Our colleagues in Professional Accounting tell us that the IFRS Foundation and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) have announced a collaboration agreement under which their respective standard-setting boards, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB), will seek to coordinate their work programmes and standard-setting activities.

Resources

• ESG? Sustainability? ISBB? Net zero? Drowning in the ‘alphabet soup’ of sustainability terminology? You’re not alone! Listen back to our ‘Ask the Expert’ short interview that took place on Wednesday 30 March to hear Rosie Dunscombe FCA explain the key terms you're likely to hear as a finance professional.

   

• British technology firm Dyson has reportedly created headphones designed to help people avoid polluted air in cities. The headphones come with a visor that delivers filtered air and were created in response to growing concerns about air and sound pollution in urban areas. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that nine in 10 people globally breathe air that exceeds its guidelines on pollutant limits, and approx. 100 million people in Europe are said to be exposed to long-term noise exposure above its recommended level.

You can find information, guidance and supports to help members understand sustainability and meet the challenges it presents in our online Sustainability Centre.