Forvis Mazars support Arachas on MDRB acquisition
Forvis Mazars supported Arachas Corporate Brokers on its recent acquisition of MDRB Insurance. Forvis Mazars provided financial and taxation due diligence on the deal.
The first round BES exercise aimed at testing the resilience of the current business models of the largest banks and insurers, and the financial system to the physical and transition risks from climate change. The second exercise further explored participants’ strategic responses to the three scenarios published as part of the first round and the associated implications for their business models. The deadline for second round submissions was 31 March and the Bank of England expects to publish the results in May 2022.
UK Green Taxonomy
The development of the UK Green Taxonomy will have similar objectives to the EU Taxonomy which are as follows:
To be UK Taxonomy-aligned, an economic activity must:
The first two criteria were subject to consultation in the first quarter of 2022. The remaining four are scheduled for consultation in the first quarter of 2023. This closely follows the EU approach with the release of the first two in advance of the four remain objectives.
Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR)
The UK is in the process of developing Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR). A discussion paper was published in November 2021 and outlined the two standards and frameworks the SDR is being built on:
SDR is expected to set out a single, standardised framework of three types of climate disclosures with certain similarities to the disclosure regime of EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) and the proposed Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD):
SDR will require the disclosure of plans to reach net-zero.
The SDR will eventually replace the existing frameworks over the next two to three years.
Sustainable Finance Labels
The FCA published a discussion paper on the Sustainability Disclosure Requirements and investment labels in November 2021. Two approaches to labels are being considered:
The classification and labelling system would consist of five labels: not promoted as sustainable, responsible, transitioning, aligned, and impact.
Policy proposals are expected to be issued for consultation in the second quarter of 2022.
Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
Mandatory TCFD-aligned disclosures are expected to be passed into law in April 2022 with a view that they will be mandatory across the UK economy by 2025.
Over 1,300 of the largest UK-registered companies and financial institutions will have to disclose climate-related financial information aligned to the TCFD recommendations on a mandatory basis.
At the end of December 2021, the following regulated firms already had climate-related disclosure requirements aligned with the TCFD recommendations:
ISSB Consultations
The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has launched consultations for its two first proposed standards on sustainability and climate-related disclosure requirements. The ISSB was established at COP26 to address the demand for high quality, transparent, reliable and comparable reporting by firms on climate and ESG matters from investors and various stakeholders. The proposals were built on the TCFD recommendations and derived from the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) standards. The consultation closes on 20 July 2022.
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