Last year saw regulators attempt to bring greater clarity, transparency and probity around the use of terms such as ‘environmental, social and governance (ESG)’ and ‘green’.
This is how it played out. In January 2023, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority announced plans help it to better understand how consumer protection legislation could be used to tackle misleading environmental claims that affect consumers.
In March 2023, the European Commission adopted a draft proposal for a Green Claims Directive to ensure “consumers receive reliable, comparable and verifiable environmental information on products”.
Given concerns about the clarity and quality of ESG ratings being provided, on March 30, the UK Treasury opened a consultation on the future regulatory regime for ESG ratings providers, which would see them brought within the…