The increasing use of climate change-related litigation and activism is becoming a risk which UK businesses of all types cannot afford to ignore. City & Financial Global’s Climate and ESG Legal Risk Management Summit 2024, which is being held on 25 March, will provide delegates with a thorough analysis of all the key issues and practical guidance on how to mitigate the risk effectively.

The third edition builds on the success of last year's event, which was widely regarded as providing a valuable forum which helped companies, financiers and their advisers gain a much better understanding of how to mitigate the risk of litigation and activism effectively.

As the focus shifts from design to implementation of the TPT Framework and sector guidance, City & Financial Global’s 2nd Annual Summit on Transition Plans for Financial Institutions and Listed Companies on the 20 February will provide practical, detailed guidance about the steps that financial firms and companies need to be taking now in order to ensure that they are prepared to meet regulatory expectations and produce transition plans of the required standard.

This important event saw a gathering of the most senior leaders and experts in this field to share their knowledge, experience and expertise on the steps the companies should be taking now to develop a transition plan within the prescribed time limit.

This event was very timely as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures had published its final recommendations for nature-related risk management and disclosure. The summit will provided an excellent opportunity to analyse their implications for corporates and financial institutions in depth.

Efficient, joined-up carbon markets are an essential tool to support the transition to net zero. In particular, there is a widespread consensus on the need for a global, scalable, voluntary carbon market that will enable companies and investors to build on their net zero strategies by financing activities elsewhere that address their remaining emissions while on the journey to zero.

This Summit addressed the urgent need for the UK to rapidly decarbonise energy generation and transport so that the UK can meet its net zero targets. The speakers assessed the investment environment and the relative attractiveness of the UK, given the U.S. IRA and the emerging EU equivalent, as well as  a range of other relevant issues. There was a detailed focus on the opportunities and challenges in delivering the government’s sustainable infrastructure plans, including the government’s revised Net Zero Strategy and Green Finance Strategy.

As was clear from COP 27, countries and individual governments are struggling to prevent temperatures rising by more than 1.5 degrees by 2050, and the outlook is bleak. Meanwhile, in the UK as elsewhere, we are seeing extreme weather conditions, which will continue to worsen as we approach 2050, and perhaps beyond.

Against this background, financial institutions of all kinds – banks, asset managers and insurers – need to put in place climate adaptation plans as part of their overall business continuity planning. These need to include the direct impact of climate change on running their own businesses and the indirect impact of the changing climate on borrowers, investee companies, policy holders, suppliers, employees and other stakeholders.