On Wednesday, 12th March, we hosted a screening of the thought-provoking film Save our Wild Isles: Banking on a Wilder Tomorrow,. The film examines how the finance and investment sector must place nature at the core of decision-making to address the ongoing nature crisis effectively.

Following the screening, we held an insightful panel discussion on the challenges and opportunities facing both infrastructure and impact investors in addressing this issue. The panel featured leaders involved in the government's new initiative to attract private capital for its sustainable infrastructure projects, including the ambitious Clean Energy by 2030 goal. Additionally, prominent voices in the nature-positive movement and experts in regulatory systems, who discussed the necessary adaptations or overhauls needed to support this transition, shared their valuable insights.

In the fourth Sustainability Exchange of the series, Simon invites Paula Langton, Partner and head of the sustainability practice at Campbell Lutyens and Phil Bartram to unravel the complexities of SFDR classification.

Listen now to explore:

• How Article 8, 9, and 6 classifications truly differ, and why it matters in today’s fundraising climate
• Shifts in LP preferences, regulatory requirements, "sustainability tourists" and the evolution towards long-term value creation
• Navigating related obstacles and choosing the appropriate sustainability commitments for your investor base

In this episode Simon, Trysha Daskam-Smith, Head of ESG Strategy at Silver Regulatory Associates and Michael Raymond delve into pressing issues faced by European fund managers when dealing with US investors amidst the current headlines. 

Tune in to explore:

1. A nuanced discussion of how the term ESG is perceived across different markets, especially US investors with varied stances in different states
2. Practical advice on communicating ESG commitments consistently and factually, avoiding political pitfalls while emphasising value creation
3. How international regulatory standards influence global fund marketing strategies

A series of dynamic conversations hosted by Simon Witney, sustainable finance specialist, joined by two expert guests.  

Simon's guests, Ross Butler, Managing Director of Linear B Group, and Tosin Adeyeri, Partner in our Funds team, debate opposing answers to this topical question. Listen now to learn what ESG-linked carried interest means and how it works, plus the pros and cons of incorporating non-financial KPIs into fund economics from their frontline perspective.

The episode ends with a one-sentence answer from each expert guest to… Should your next fund include and ESG or perhaps impacts linked carried interest?

A series of dynamic conversations hosted by Simon Witney, sustainable finance specialist, joined by two expert guests.  

Simon meets with James Alexander, Chief Executive of The UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF) and Sarah-Jane Denton, Director of our Operational Risk & Environment team to evaluate the need, benefits, and practicality of a implementing UK-specific green taxonomy versus adopting the current EU framework.

The episode ends with a one-sentence answer from each expert guest to… does the UK need a green taxonomy?

The Sustainability Exchange was first published in our Talking. Sustainability. podcast. Follow for latest episodes in your favourite podcast player: https://feeds.captivate.fm/travers-smith-talking-sustainability-esg/

Our take on what companies and asset managers should know about the omnibus so far, what we can expect to happen next, and what interest groups are saying about the announcement on the ground.  

In the second episode of our series focussing on Good Tax Governance, Hannah Manning from our tax team discusses the new corporate criminal offence of failure to prevent fraud (FTP).

Over the last few years, businesses have become well acquainted with the strict liability offences around bribery and failure to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion. HMRC's introduction of this new criminal offence in tackling financial crime has some interesting new features that make it easier for the actions of individuals within a company to be attributed to the company itself.

Hannah discusses the new FTP offence, its relevance in a tax context, and how it interacts with the existing Corporate Criminal Offence of failure to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion (CCO). Most importantly, Hannah will explore the steps that should be taken when dealing with both CCO and FTP. 

In the first of our series focussing on Good Tax Governance,

Kulsoom Hadi from our Incentives and Remuneration team discusses the use of

umbrella companies. While umbrella companies can provide administrative

benefits for businesses when managing a flexible workforce, the UK tax

authorities are live to the risk of avoidance and expect end users to have

appropriate oversight of how the umbrella companies in their supply chain

manage their tax compliance. Kulsoom discusses the current compliance landscape

and the practical impact for businesses engaging staff through umbrella

companies.

Our most recent episode of our Talking. Sustainability series.

In Part 2 of our discussion with Seb Akbik from PRI on Tax, ESG and Sustainability we explore some of the theoretical tensions and practical difficulties which can arise in establishing "good tax governance"; the differing approaches which organisations have adopted; and some examples of steps which businesses could take to develop good tax governance.