Publication
Generative AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) raises many intellectual property (IP) issues.
Authors:
Türkiye | Publication | April 2022
On 21 March 2022, the US Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") published Proposed Rules that, if enacted, will require certain companies to make climate-related disclosures in their registration statements and annual reports. The Proposed Rules are open to public comment until at least 20 May 2022.
The SEC has broad authority to issue rules requiring US publicly traded companies to disclose significant financial and other information so that investors can make informed investments decisions. The Proposed Rules reflect the SEC's view that climate risks can be significant, and that companies should therefore be providing investors with more information about climate-related risks pursuant to a uniform framework.
The Proposed Rules impact not only US issuers, but they extend to foreign private issuers. Thus, the Proposed Rules, if enacted, will impact certain Turkish companies.
The Proposed Rules define climate-related risks quite broadly. Specifically, those risks include the actual or potential negative impacts of climate-related conditions and events on a registrant's consolidated financial statements, business operations, or value chains (upstream and downstream activities related to a registrant's operations), as a whole.
Some of the Proposed Rules' more significant disclosure requirements are:
Disclosures required by the Proposed Rules would need to be set forth in registration statements and annual reports under a separate section named, "Climate-Related Disclosure." In addition, the climate-related financial statement metrics and related disclosures would need to be included in the audited financial statements.
Companies would have to begin making the Proposed Rules' climate-related disclosures, including Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions metrics, for the first full fiscal year following the Proposed Rules becoming effective. Recognizing that the reporting of Scope 3 emissions can be particularly challenging, the Proposed Rules provide an additional one-year phase-in for companies subject to those requirements, although there would be an exemption for smaller companies.
The Proposed Rules contain several rather burdensome requirements. As a result, companies will need to implement and carefully monitor, test, and periodically enhance their compliance framework, including their disclosure controls, with respect to the assessment of climate-related risks. This includes ensuring that individuals performing relevant functions have sufficient expertise and the company has deployed effective technology.
Publication
Artificial intelligence (AI) raises many intellectual property (IP) issues.
Publication
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR or the Court) recently ruled in Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz & Ors v. Switzerland (Application No. 53600/20) that Switzerland had breached the European Convention of Human Rights (the Convention) by not taking sufficient action against climate change. In particular, it found a breach of the right to respect for private and family life contained in Article 8 of the Convention, based on Switzerland’s failure to mitigate the impact of climate change on the lives, health, well-being and quality of life of its citizens. It also ruled that Switzerland had breached the right to a fair trial in terms of Article 6, in that the domestic courts failed to examine the merits of the applicants’ complaints, including the scientific evidence. In this article we consider the key features of this landmark judgment, which has wide ramifications for Member States of the Convention.
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