Resilient LLP (formerly DeMarco Allan LLP)
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DT Vollmer

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ISSB Publishes Exposure Drafts for Climate and Sustainability Disclosure

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The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), a standard-setting board of the IFRS Foundation, has published Exposure Draft IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures (the Climate Exposure Draft) and Exposure Draft IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information (the Sustainability Exposure Draft). The Climate Exposure Draft is based on the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure and incorporates industry-based disclosure requirements from the SASB Standards. The Sustainability Exposure Draft provides overall requirements for disclosing sustainability-related financial information about significant sustainability-related risks and opportunities. This bulletin provides key information on both documents and the recently launched consultations.  Climate Exposure Draft Objective. The objectives of the Climate Exposure Draft include, among others, requiring disclosure of information about exposure to significant climate-related risks and opportunities, enabling users of an entity’s general purpose financial reporting to: Assess the effects of significant climate-related risks and opportunities on enterprise value. Understand how the use of resources, and corresponding inputs, activities, outputs and outcomes support responses to and strategy for managing significant climate-related risks and opportunities. Evaluate the ability to adapt planning, business model, and operations to significant climate-related risks and opportunities. Enable users of general-purpose financial reporting to understand the governance processes, controls, and procedures used to monitor and manage climate-related risks and opportunities and the strategies for addressing significant climate-related risks and opportunities. Scope. The Climate Exposure Draft would apply to climate-related risks an entity is exposed to including physical and transitional risks, and climate-related opportunities available to an entity. Sustainability Exposure Draft Objective. The objectives of the Sustainability Exposure Draft include, among others: Require disclosure of significant sustainability-related risks and opportunities useful to the primary users of general purpose financial reporting when assessing enterprise value and deciding whether to provide resources. Require disclosure of material information about exposure to all significant…

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Canada Releases 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan

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Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) today released the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan (the Plan) under the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act (the Act; read our earlier bulletin on the Act here). The Plan sets out current actions, additional funding of $9.1B, and several new initiatives to meet Canada’s emissions reduction target of 40-45% below 2005 levels by 2030, as provided last year in an update to Canada’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement (read our earlier bulletin on Canada’s updated NDC targets here).   The Plan also sets a new interim objective of reducing GHGs by 20% below 2005 levels by 2026, noting that this interim objective is not an official target akin to Canada’s 2030 NDC, but that progress towards achieving the objective will be a cornerstone of progress reports associated with the Plan in 2023, 2025, and 2027.   This bulletin highlights key parts of the Plan and summarizes the newly announced funding and initiatives, across the following categories: Carbon pricing Clean fuels Clean growth funding Methane Buildings Electricity Heavy industry Oil and gas Transportation Agriculture Waste Nature-based solutions Clean technology and climate innovation Sustainable finance Jobs, skills, and communities Prime Minister Justin Trudeau launched the Plan in an address at the GLOBE Forum in Vancouver earlier today.  Carbon pricing. The Plan notes the measures undertaken to address economy-wide emissions including the federal fuel charge and the Output-Based Pricing System for industrial emitters under the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act. Escalating the federal benchmark price to $170 by 2030 is meant to further support the 2030 targets of the federal government along with continued consultations on a possible border carbon adjustment (read our earlier bulletin here). Very significantly, the Plan puts forward the concept of investment approaches, like carbon contracts for differences, which enshrine future price levels in contracts between the federal government and low-carbon…

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SEC Proposes Climate-related Disclosure Rules

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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) yesterday proposed rule changes that would require climate-related disclosures in registration statements and periodic reports (the Proposed Rule). The Proposed Rule is similar to other disclosure frameworks including the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. This bulletin summarizes key, high-level details of the Proposed Rule, which is over 500 pages in length:   Required climate-related disclosure. The Proposed Rule would require registrants to disclose: the oversight and governance of climate-related risks by the board and management; how any climate-related risks identified by the registrant have had or are likely to have a material impact on its business and consolidated financial statements, which may manifest over the short-, medium-, or long-term; how any identified climate-related risks have affected or are likely to affect the registrant’s strategy, business model, and outlook; the registrant’s processes for identifying, assessing, and managing climate-related risks and whether any such processes are integrated into the registrant’s overall risk and management system or processes; the impact of climate-related events and transition activities on the line items of a registrant’s consolidated financial statements, and disclosure of financial estimates and assumptions impacted by such climate-related events and transition activities; Scope 1 and 2 emissions and Scope 3 emissions in specific circumstances;  carbon offsets and renewable energy credits or certificates (RECs); any  internal carbon price; and any climate-related targets, goals, and transition plans. Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. The Proposed Rule would require the disclosure of a registrant’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions in disaggregated constituent GHGs and in the aggregate, as well as in absolute and intensity terms. Scope 3 emissions and intensity would be disclosable only if material or where a registrant has set a GHG emissions target or goal that includes Scope 3 emissions. The SEC notes that the…

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1PointFive Announces Groundbreaking Agreement for Sale of Carbon Removal Credits to Airbus

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1PointFive yesterday announced the sale of 400,000 tonnes of carbon removal credits from its planned first direct air capture (DAC) facility to aerospace leader Airbus. The facility uses using Carbon Engineering’s industrial-scale DAC solution and will extract atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and permanently store it deep underground in geologic formations, delivering permanent and verifiable carbon dioxide removal. Airbus has pre-purchased the capture and permanent sequestration of 100,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere each year for four years, with an option to secure more volume in the future. The purchase marks a key milestone for the decarbonization of the aviation industry.  1PointFive is a carbon capture, utilization and sequestration (CCUS) platform that is working to help curb global temperature rise to 1.5°C by 2050 through the deployment of decarbonization solutions. It is a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum’s Oxy Low Carbon Ventures business. Carbon Engineering is a climate solutions company working to deploy large-scale, commercial DAC facilities in multiple markets around the globe. Resilient LLP was pleased to assist 1PointFive on this groundbreaking transaction. For further information or to discuss the contents of this bulletin, please contact Lisa DeMarco at lisa@resilientllp.com.

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ECCC Consulting on Developing a Clean Electricity Standard

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Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) today released a discussion paper, “A Clean Electricity Standard in support of a net-zero electricity sector” (the Discussion Paper), as part of its first steps in developing and consulting on a Clean Electricity Standard (CES) under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999. This bulletin summarizes key details of the Discussion Paper and provides important information on ECCC’s consultation on developing a CES.   Purpose. The Discussion Paper indicates that its purpose is to support the government’s intention to introduce regulations to achieve a net-zero electricity system by 2035 and invite comments regarding the scope and design of the CES. The Discussion Paper notes that Canada’s electricity system is currently 82% non-emitting but remains Canada’s 4th largest source of emissions, accounting for 8.4% of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2019.   Proposed CES Regulations. The Discussion Paper notes that carbon pricing will be insufficient to ensure that the electricity sector achieves net-zero emissions by 2035 or likely even by 2050. Therefore, a nation-wide CES regulation will complement carbon pricing by requiring the phase-out of all conventional fossil fuel electricity generation and incentivizing fuel switching in other sectors. The scope and design of the CES regulations will also need to provide enough compliance flexibility to allow for the use of natural gas for emergency events, back-up power to complement renewables, and supplying power during seasonal peaks of demand. The proposed CES regulations may, among other things: apply to all sources of emitting electricity generation that sell to the grid; transition the electricity sector to net-zero by 2035 while providing increased supply of electricity to support electrification and the role of available technologies in the provision of clean power to Canadians; be stringent enough to achieve its objectives while including compliance flexibility, such as robust GHG offsets, and allow for the…

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