2022年3月3日和14日,欧洲财务报告咨询组发布最新一套工作文件,介绍欧盟未来可持续性报告标准ESRS将建立数十项可持续性相关披露要求,根据企业可持续性报告指令对数千个欧盟公司强制发布(见 in thes/covcommunicate.com/129/4984/uploads/csrd-stable-esg-dorps-and-工作文件建议ESRS公司报告社会问题,如同酬差和广泛受保护群体歧视事件(如种族或民族血统、残疾、年龄或性取向)。详细程度报告将粒子化,并包括性骚扰事件等,即使不再受行动约束。强制披露将扩展至公司集体谈判协议(逐国协议)和强迫劳动事件、人权或童工等信息公司应报告所有事件并提供实例摘要证明它们的补救行动。
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If you have any questions concerning the material discussed in this blog post, please contact any of the following members of our ESG, Capital Markets and Securities, and Business and Human Rights teams: Sarah Bishop, Mellissa Campbell Duru, Sinéad Oryszczuk, Paul Mertenskötter, and Ivy-Victoria Otradovec.
This blog presents an overview of some of the detailed climate-related disclosure and reporting metrics covered by the ISSB and EFRAG climate prototypes, and highlights critical considerations for companies as more detailed and mandatory ESG and sustainability reporting frameworks begin to take shape.
Global Context & COP26 Pledges
Major developments that emerged from the November 2021 COP26 summit included the announcement of the new Glasgow Climate Pact, a renewed emphasis on the role of the private sector in addressing climate change risks and opportunities, and the launch of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, a coalition of existing and new net zero finance initiatives dedicated to assisting companies realign their business models for net zero.
In addition, a critical adjunct to COP26 was the announcement of the launch of the ISSB and its work towards the development of uniform global environmental, social, and governance ("ESG") reporting standards.ISSB表示努力鼓励全球吸收并合并为现有ESG报告标准(包括框架,如气候相关财务披露工作队和气候披露标准理事会倡议)。ESG报告标准全球基线旨在向投资者、资本市场参与者和各种其他利益攸关方提供关于公司可持续性相关风险和机会的信息类似于姐妹组织国际会计准则理事会,ISSB将由国际财务报告标准基金会管理。
The scope of the Climate Prototype encompasses physical climate-related risks, risks associated with the transition to a lower-carbon economy, as well as climate-related opportunities for the entity.
Pursuant to ISSB's Climate Prototype, an entity shall disclose the following cross-industry climate metrics:
| Greenhouse gas emissions | Scope 1, 2 and 3 in metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent. |
| Transition risks | Amount and percentage of assets and business activities vulnerable to transition risk. |
| Physical risks | Amount and percentage of assets and business activities vulnerable to physical risks. |
| Climate-related opportunities | Proportion of revenue, assets or business activities aligned with climate-related opportunities (in amount or percentage). |
| Capital deployment | Amount of capital expenditure, financing or investment deployed toward climate-related risks and opportunities (in reporting currency). |
| Internal carbon prices | Entity's internal price for each metric tonne of GHG emissions. |
| Remuneration | Proportion of executive management remuneration affected by climate-related considerations in current period. |
Importantly, the Climate Prototype foresees additional industry-specific climate metrics for companies to report on.ISSB气候原型附录B汇总行业报告要求其中包括为每个行业具体确定的多重需求,例如软件服务公司水压区抽取和耗用水或棕榈油供应链报告公司家庭和个人产品销售报告In light of the growing interdependence between the many ongoing ESG regulatory initiatives (especially those originating in the EU), this reporting requirement should, for example, be considered in the context of recently announced national and international deforestation due diligence requirements for specified products being placed on the UK and EU markets.
2. EFRAG's Climate Standard Prototype: Towards Harmonization?
The ISSB's Climate and General Requirements Prototypes are particularly interesting because EFRAG released a similar framework under the Climate Standard Prototype Working Paper in September 2021.EFRAG框架响应欧盟委员会关于s/www.insideEnergyandense.com/2021/05/the-e-Corporate-divity-proposition-what-company-dessb的Climate原型可能直接影响到欧盟规则。
Compaments也可能感兴趣地注意到EFRAG工作文件和Climate原型都覆盖相似水平的报告,侧重于部门不可知性报告、部门专用报告和实体专用报告EFRAG工作文件捕捉约三分之二ISSB气候原型,其余三分之一有可能在未来数月中补充EFRAG部门特有标准。
本分类法是欧洲日益注重提高气候相关活动透明度的又一标志,但它也是一套本已复杂图象中的另一套标准和指标。At a COP26 side event, for example, EFRAG's work was examined in the context of the ISSB and the work of the TCFD.
Key Takeaways
Two main recommendations flow out of the current landscape on sustainability reporting developments.
- Companies should consider which aspects of their current voluntary sustainability reporting could be integrated into mandatory financial and non-financial sustainability reporting requirements in the future. As new standards emerge, companies have an opportunity to actively monitor developments and "best practices" within their industry and to proactively prepare for future mandatory reporting requirements.美联储报表公司还应该考虑ISSB和EFRAG披露原型方面会如何影响美国正在考虑的与气候有关的披露规则证券交易委员会公司应开始识别本行业相关度量值,制定策略和过程识别物风险和机会,并开发必要的报告控制程序以确保信息收集与报告及时准确性。
The European Commission has published a proposal for a Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (2021/0104) ("CSRD"), which forms just one part of a comprehensive package of sustainable finance measures (see our blog here).欧委会提出这些措施响应对更强和更广泛的可持续性报告标准的要求,超出欧委会当前提供s/eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32014L0095CSRD通过修正欧盟现行法律,包括透明指令、会计指令和审计指令,努力授权可持续性报告与保证More fundamentally, according to the Commission, it will move the EU one step closer to realizing its aim of having sustainability reporting be "on a par" with financial reporting, in terms of attached weight and importance. This is reflected in the change of terminology used in the CSRD proposal, from a focus on "non-financial" information reporting, to "sustainability".
We cover below the background and detail, but in summary, these are the key elements of the CSRD proposal that corporates should be aware of:
- Scope: The CSRD reporting requirements will apply to all large EU companies and all listed companies, including listed small and medium-sized enterprises ("SMEs").估计覆盖约49,000家公司。
- Audit: The CSRD will require, for the first time, a general EU-wide audit (assurance) requirement for sustainability information.
- Digitization: The sustainability information must be published in companies' management reports — and not separately reported — and the information will need to be digitized or "tagged" so it can be incorporated into a planned European Single Access Point.
- Timing: If the proposal is adopted and standards can be agreed in line with current ambitious estimates, large in-scope companies must comply from financial years starting on or after 1 January 2023, publishing reports from 2024!whilst SMEs have to comply from 1 January 2026.
Context: Need for Reform
To reach the EU's aim of becoming net zero by 2050, the Commission understands that private capital must be directed towards green, sustainable projects, and this requires that investors have access to clear and comprehensive information on their potential investees relating to, among other things, environmental sustainability and corporate governance practices.
Currently, the Non-Financial Reporting Directive requires in-scope companies to report on sustainability matters, including on environmental protection, social responsibility and treatment of employees, respect for human rights, anti-corruption and bribery, and diversity on company boards.
Yet, despite the Commission's publication of non-binding reporting guidelines and specific guidelines on climate-related reporting aimed at standardizing disclosures, concerns remained over the quality and consistency of the information disclosed.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A02019R2088-20200712多家这样的机构因此游说鼓励改革2019年底,委员会承诺,作为其“https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities20192024/european-green-deal_en/EuropeanGreenDes
Company非欧盟公司欧盟子公司建议免责,供母公司遵守立法的集团内公司使用并注意,根据该提案,免责子公司需要发布合并管理集团报告并在其个人报告中注明免管CSRD。 与此相关,委员会澄清说,虽然公司可免交合并财务报告要求,但合并可持续性报告机制将分离,因此它们不一定免交后者。
非财务报告指令目前捕获约11 000家公司Under the CSRD, due to the broader definition of "large undertaking", as compared with "large public interest entity" under the Non-Financial Reporting Directive, the Commission estimates this number could rise to approximately 49,000.The listed SMEs, however, would not be subject to the same reporting standards as large undertakings. In parallel with the new rules for large undertakings, "proportionate standards" (i.e., simpler, less onerous standards) will be developed for SMEs by October 2023. While SMEs that are not listed on EU regulated markets do not fall under the proposed rules, the Commission suggests they would be able to use such standards on a purely voluntary basis, possibly as a method to enable more cost-efficient responses to requests for information from upstream entities, including banks and insurers.
(ii) Reporting Requirements: Inwards-Outwards, Forwards-Backwards…
One of the criticisms levied against the Non-Financial Reporting Directive was that it did too little to encourage consistent coverage in reports.The CSRD is intended to provide a much more granular level of detail regarding what information undertakings should report, covering the entire value chain.
The Commission now proposes that mandatory disclosures form part of a company's management report and include descriptions of:
- business model and strategy, including plans and implementation;
- sustainability targets and progress made towards achieving those targets;
- role of the management and supervisory bodies regarding sustainability;
- policies in relation to sustainability factors;
- due diligence processes for operations and the supply chain;
- principal risks and dependencies;
- indicators relevant for measuring all the above;
- intangibles, including intellectual, human, social, and relationship capital!并 进程识别披露信息。
As和量化信息,CSRD建议要求定性信息也包含在披露中,提供面向前和回溯信息覆盖短期、中期和长期提案还澄清说,“双重相对性”原则仍然存在,但澄清说,这意味着企业应报告理解可持续性问题对自身影响的必要信息,并报告理解对人与环境影响的必要信息-i.e./em大型多国公司应该知道,这一点和对“可持续性信息”(相对于非金融信息)的重视不同于气候相关财务披露标准工作队单镜或金融重要性透镜。
CSRD建议还引入强制可持续性报告标准这些标准旨在补充上文披露链表并进一步具体说明信息企业需要披露-可针对具体部门这些标准将采取委托行为形式,根据欧洲财务报告咨询组-欧盟支持的私人协会-的建议编写并咨询关键利益攸关方第一套标准规划于2022年10月前完成,第二套一年后完成。
持续报告标准预计将与下列主题标题相关:标准将包含全球接受标准的基本内容,包括与气候相关金融披露标准较窄与气候相关特别工作组,以确保欧盟保持广泛的一致性-即使欧盟决定更深入。
/so报告的可持续性信息准确可靠,CSRD提议对提供的可持续性信息进行强制性全欧盟审计或保证要求初始保证义务为“有限性”,但随着可持续性保证标准的发展,我们最终可能看到保证义务类似于财务报告所用的保证义务。CSRD建议允许成员国选择公司而非普通财务信息审核师确保可持续性信息 。
CSRD建议要求公司用欧洲单一电子格式编写管理报告和财务报表数字报告和标签系统允许将报告数据纳入规划中的欧洲单一存取点中(插图见https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:522020DC0590&from=ENCapital市场联盟行动计划 )并允许应用新手AI和机器学习技术EFRAG并行报告标准如果最终立法文本正式通过并可按照当前雄心勃勃估计商定可持续性报告标准(2022年上半年前),欧盟成员国需在2022年12月1日前实施CSRD大范围公司从2023年1月1日或以后的财年必须守法,发布2024年报告,上市中小企业从2026年1月1日守法。
If you have any questions concerning the material discussed in this blog, please contact the following members of our team:
John Ahern +44 20 7067 2190 JAhern@cov.com
Sebastian Vos +32 2 549 52 67 svos@cov.com
Thomas Reilly +44 20 7067 2357 treilly@cov.com
Sinéad Oryszczuk +44 20 7067 2141 soryszczuk@cov.com
Sarah Crowder +44 20 7067 2393 scrowder@cov.com
Katherine Kingsbury +44 20 7067 2041 kkingsbury@cov.com
Paul Mertenskötter +32 2 545 7517 pmertenskoetter@cov.com
和(2) 长期而言,根据2020s://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/eu-Coltics-action/law_enFollowing the adoption of the EU Taxonomy Regulation (explained further below), the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, and the Benchmark Regulation, which enhances the transparency of benchmark methodologies, the Commission has in this legislative package laid out the next building blocks for its envisioned sustainable finance ecosystem.
In addition to the impact on financial institutions and investors directly subject to the new laws, the Sustainable Finance Package may impact corporates in the following ways:
- Corporates may be more likely to receive requests for data on their environmental and other sustainability practices as upstream capital markets participants grapple with new obligations to distinguish between green, "light green," and other investments;
- Corporates may be subject to direct requirements to report on activities relating to their environmental, social, and governance objectives;
- Longer-term, the package may form the basis of a "blueprint" for wider stakeholders, meaning that corporates may need to improve performance against the standards, not just to attract capital, but also to remain competitive!并
- 在全球层面,这些欧盟可持续性度量有真正潜力成为金标准并影响欧盟以外的投资市场,这是一个被称为`BrutselsEffect'的现象。
We将在一系列文章中更详细地覆盖这些动态。企业应了解的关键问题有:(1) TCDA草案并(2) 拟议的CSRD.
The draft TCDA (in its Annexes, here and here) sets forth sector-specific definitions of environmentally sustainable economic activities, ranging from manufacturing to electricity generation and transport. Notably, although the TCDA sets criteria for when hydrogen manufacture may be considered a sustainable investment (as we discussed in a recent article), it does not cover natural gas or nuclear energy, which are expected to be covered by supplementary technical screening criteria later this year. The Commission will establish a web portal where stakeholders can make suggestions on other areas in mid-2021!可持续金融委员会和平台将评估这些建议。
Timeline 自2023年1月1日起,这些规定也将适用于分类规范中的其他环境目标。
TCDA仍受欧洲议会和理事会审查,它们有3个月时间提出任何反对意见,理论上可以阻塞TCDA的通过TCDA预期从2022瀑布应用 。
建议公司可持续性报告指令 >
旨在填补资产管理员之间的信息空白,这些管理员必须根据可持续金融披露规则评估哪些经济活动环境可持续,以及可能尚未提供这一信息的潜在公司投资目标。 反之,CSRD将适用于所有大研究结果将载入公司管理报告并发布于众,并通过设想的欧洲单一存取点向所有人提供https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economist-euro/Crap-and-Investment/Captive-markets-uni然而,只有当委员会认为第三国可持续性报告义务与欧盟义务等值时,才提供豁免,该义务符合
Timeline 如果欧洲议会和成员国能够就标准达成协议-这不是定点-成员国将需要在2022年12月1日前执行指令manbext网页版Companies that are within the scope of the Directive would have to comply from financial years starting on or after 1 January 2023, meaning they would need to publish reports from 2024, whilst SMEs would have to comply from January 1, 2026. If you have any questions concerning the material discussed in this blog, please contact the following members of our team: John Ahern +44 20 7067 2190 jahern@cov.com
Sebastian Vos +32 2 549 5267 svos@cov.com
Thomas Reilly +44 20 7067 2000 treilly@cov.com
Sinéad Oryszczuk +44 207 067 2141 soryszczuk@cov.com
Sarah Crowder +44 20 7067 2393 scrowder@cov.com
Paul Mertenskötter +32 2 545 7517 pmertenskoetter@cov.com
[1] This term, coined by Anu Bradford of Columbia Law School, describes how the EU effectively sets global norms.企业通过严格的欧盟规则在欧洲市场合法运营,然后在全球遵守这些规则以尽量减少守法成本正像欧盟规则被视为金标准, 其他国家政府和国际组织复制规则, 并进一步加强这一效果 。
联合王国政府目前正在就潜在法律进行磋商。英国政府期望该法将特别影响超市和时装厂、肉和奶制品生产者和企业使用棕榈油和其他自然成份并提议立法可能为企业提供法律确定性和清晰义务。
联合王国政府拟议立法力求查禁非法砍伐森林和生态系统变化并补充生产国政府和企业当前举措联合王国政府在公告中强调森林保护在应对气候变化方面的重要性,并特别指出:
- deferation占全球温室气体排放量的11%;
- 估计80%森林砍伐由农产品生产产生并 大森林清除生产这些商品不被视为合法 。
博客文章中, 我们考虑拟议立法的范围和范围对企业内可能意味着什么, 并提供广义GRI建议和国际可持续性尽职驱动程序上的一些上下文.
建议目前侧重于大型企业,视营业量和雇员数而定。根据国际和国家会计法,法律可能遵循欧盟和联合王国将大型企业界定为非中小企业的其他环境与可持续性举措政府预期超市和时装厂最有可能受拟议立法的影响,此外还有“公司将农林产品或衍生产品投放英国市场”。确定哪些企业属于类似勤勉报告框架范围证明对许多企业来说复杂化,特别是那些公司结构复杂并正在扩展的企业。
政府打算确保立法增强并符合现有的英国非金融公司报表和尽职框架不遵守制裁仍有待确定,但当前高层次建议显示政府将能够对继续使用未合法生产/或未建立强力尽职体系的森林风险商品的企业课以罚款和其他民事制裁。
关键建议之一是引入强制克尽职责要求GRI建议中一些重要范围界定方面包括:
- 应有的注意义务应同时涵盖侵犯人权和环境风险和影响,这些风险和影响需要仔细和清晰地定义and
- obligations for companies should be commensurate with the size of the organisation, their impact and ability to influence change;
- the financial sector should also be covered by a similar mandatory due diligence obligation, undertaking due diligence in order to avoid their lending and investment activities funding deforestation.
The extent to which any eventual legislation will incorporate these suggestions is currently unclear.
The GRI also recommended the introduction of a legally binding target to end deforestation within UK agriculture and forestry supply chains as soon as practicable, by no later than 2030.
Next steps: consultation
The UK Government — in particular, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs ("Defra") — has launched an online consultation on the draft legislation to solicit views from the UK and international stakeholders (closing on 5 October 2020).Feedback to the consultation will inform the Government's response to the GRI's due diligence recommendation, and assist in weighing the potential impacts of the proposed legislation on businesses and other interests.
If the Government decides to legislate, the intention currently seems to be to that the legal framework will be established in primary legislation, followed by more detailed secondary legislation, and subject to further consultation.
Wider context: the proliferation of due diligence obligations
Following the UN's adoption of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights ("UNGPs"), there has been an increasing trend of national and regional regulatory initiatives, including human rights and environmental due diligence and reporting requirements.
One such significant initiative is in motion an at EU level.On 29 April 2020, the EU announced that it would introduce legislation in 2021 to make human rights and environmental due diligence mandatory for EU companies (see our May 2020 blog post here).欧洲议会目前正在编写关于这个问题的立法倡议报告,我们期望委员会在今后数月内进行协商。欧盟司法和消费者事务专员最近确认,委员会将将该条例列入2021年委员会下一个正式工作方案(预期于2020年10月发布)。These efforts are taking place in the context of the EU's wide suite of regulatory initiatives that are part of the "European Green Deal" (see an overview webinar here).
The UK Government considers that by introducing a mandatory deforestation and ecosystem supply chain law, it will provide businesses with some legal certainty by setting a "floor" and minimum standards to meet. However, against a backdrop of a rapidly evolving patchwork of due diligence requirements — including the more comprehensive, potential EU human rights and environmental due diligence regulation — it is possible that, for in-scope businesses, the UK's introduction of further issue-specific due diligence obligations will exasperate the compliance challenges caused by a piecemeal approach.
Europe's discussions on the introduction of a CBAM are at the crossroads of two priority regulatory areas for the EU. On the one hand, the CBAM initiative is part of the Green Deal, which has now become the main driver for the EU's recovery plan in response to the COVID-19 crisis. On the other hand, the CBAM fits with the EU's industrial strategic objective to "level the playing field" between companies in the EU and those competing from elsewhere. This agenda for a "level playing field" finds additional manifestations in the European Commission's recent announcement on the screening of foreign direct investment and foreign subsidies.
The European Commission's proposed goal that the EU achieves climate neutrality by 2050 has reinforced the position of those advocating for the need to adopt a CBAM. Supporters of the CBAM claim that it will ensure that all goods consumed in the EU/EEA, whether imported or produced domestically, are treated the same way and will push other countries across the world to also decarbonize. In line with this, in its Communication on a European Green Deal in December 2019, the European Commission announced that "should differences in levels of ambition worldwide persist, as the EU increases its climate ambition, the Commission will propose a carbon border adjustment mechanism, for selected sectors, to reduce the risk of carbon leakage. This would ensure that the price of imports reflect more accurately their carbon content." The Commission's Inception Impact Assessment on the Adjustment Mechanism also stated that the mechanism "would ensure that the price of imports reflect more accurately their carbon content. The measure would need to be designed to comply with World Trade Organization rules and other international obligations of the EU."
Half a year and a pandemic after the European Commission's announcement of its Green Deal, the EU and many of its Member States appear firmly committed to adopting some sort of CBAM. Indeed, the fact that the CBAM sits at the crossroads of the Green Deal and the EU's level playing field strategy strongly suggests that the Commission and later the European Parliament and Council will move swiftly on this legislative file. The European Parliament has already been working on its own initiative, and the European Commission is expected to present a formal legislative proposal to the Parliament and Council in 2021.
In principle, the CBAM could cover all sectors subject to the EU's Emissions Trading System ("ETS"). However, at this stage, the thinking within the European Commission seems to be converging initially on only subjecting the steel and cement industries to the CBAM. Steel and cement products are energy intensive in their production and their low-cost, heavy, and bulky nature means that their transport is, in terms of relative price, also often energy intensive.这可能是为什么委员会可能认为这些产品特别适合CBAM, 并测试后期对其他产品的潜在扩展委员会内部的这种思维当然取决于未来数月公共咨询和其他交换结果。
CBAM委员会咨询产生重要的气候、国际贸易、开发和经济问题。列举几个例子:- 严格适用边界税或加入现有的ETS机制,或为欧盟内部经济活动规定新义务?
- 欧盟如何能够开发客观方法计算产品碳足迹?
- To which minimum standards should these non-EU emissions trading schemes be subject?
- Should the introduction of a CBAM mean the complete end of free ETS allowances for industrial sectors suffering from "carbon leakage"?
- What design would be necessary to ensure the CBAM's compliance with the EU's international economic law obligations, particularly those of the World Trade Organization, bilateral trade agreements between the EU and third countries, and multilateral environmental agreements that call for "common but differentiated responsibilities" in the fight against climate change?
The consultation's specifically listed questions touch upon the general issues outlined above and cover four principal areas:
- Justification and objectives (g., is the Green Deal going to increase "carbon leakage"?).
- Design and coverage (g., the relationship with the ETS).
- Specific implementation issues (g., how to calculate and verify the carbon content of imported products).
- Potential impacts on the economy, the environment, and other social objectives (g., changes to the costs of products covering basic needs).
Interested parties may submit comments to the specific questions in these areas as well as more general arguments on the CBAM until October 28, 2020.
On March 4, 2020, the European Commission delivered the first major climate piece of its European Green Deal: it proposed a "European Climate Law," which takes the form of a Regulation and establishes a framework for the irreversible and gradual reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the enhancement of removals in the European Union. The proposal and the fact that it takes the form of a binding Regulation may have a significant impact on a wide variety of legislative and policy initiatives that the EU and its Member States may take within the next years.
The proposed Regulation would set into binding legislation the EU's 2050 climate-neutrality objective and require the European Parliament, Council and Commission, as well as the EU Member States, to take the necessary measures to enable the collective achievement of this objective.It will also require the European Commission to review, by September 2020, the EU's emission reduction target for 2030, in light of the climate neutrality objective for 2050, and to explore options for a new 2030 emission reduction target of 50% to 55% in comparison to 1990 emissions.
The proposed Regulation would also empower the Commission to adopt Regulations, without having to negotiate them with Member States and the Parliament, setting up a trajectory at Union level to achieve the neutrality objective by 2050. This trajectory must start from the 2030 target and be amended in line with updates under the UNFCCC Paris Agreement.
The proposed Regulation would also require the EU institutions and Member States to continuously adopt measures to adapt to climate change.
Finally, the proposed Regulation would also require the Commission to engage with all stakeholders to enable and empower them to take action towards a climate-neutral and climate-resilient society.
The Commission's proposal to enshrine an EU neutrality target in a binding EU Regulation may have a significant legal and policy impact in the EU during the next decades. The Regulation may create a legal basis to oblige EU institutions and Member States to ensure that any policies they adopt are aimed to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, and also to allow NGOs to challenge before EU and Member State courts any EU and national measures that are not compatible with that objective.
Moreover, NGOs are demanding the Parliament and Council to include in the proposed Regulation explicit provisions allowing citizens and NGOs to take legal action against EU and Member State authorities for failure to comply with the 2050 climate neutrality objective. This could provide a boost to the climate change litigation that NGOs are already bringing against governments and companies across Europe (see for example the Urgenda case in the Netherlands). In this context, it is worth noting that the European Parliament's Resolution on the Green Deal of January 15, 2020 stressed that "all people living in Europe should be granted the fundamental right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment and to stable climate, without discrimination, and that this right must be delivered through ambitious policies and must be fully enforceable through the justice system at national and EU level."
The European Parliament and Council must now consider the proposed Climate Change Law for adoption through the so-called ordinary legislative procedure. The Commission hopes that the Parliament and Council will be able to reach an agreement on the text of the Regulation by the Autumn of 2020, in advance of the next UNFCCC COP 26 in Glasgow in November 2020.