Insights

Reporting standards and frameworks are a crucial tool for addressing environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. They help organisations to measure, understand and communicate their exposure to ESG risks and opportunities, promoting transparency with stakeholders and informing strategy. Over the past few years, various guidelines for ESG reporting have emerged,…

Alex Dawson, Practice Lead for UK politics and policy; Lilah Howson-Smith, Senior Associate; and Joe Armitage, Lead Analyst for UK politics discuss UK policy divergence after Brexit, following our recent event series.

Global Counsel has supported the European Roundtable of Industrialists in producing a flagship report on the EU’s trade policy and the challenges faced in more complex geopolitical environment. The report argues that being open to trade is a source of strength for supply chains, rather than weakness, and suggests how the EU might best put into practice its new policy of…

Over the last month, we have brought together our team of experts and prominent policymakers to discuss and debate the key challenges for the EU’s policy agenda for the next three years. It is hard to capture the breadth and range of issues and ideas we covered across the four events, and you will find links to all of them below if you would like to watch them. We…

Meaningful policy action on climate change entails costs and reforms for almost all economic activity, and at the European level we are starting to see what this means in practice. 

A striking element of the current European Commission is its emphasis on supporting individual technologies, sectors and “ecosystems”. 

At today's European Council most eyes are on Slovenia and their plans as incoming Council presidency next week. However, a much bigger shakeup in the Justus Lipsius is likely to be triggered by Germany's election in September.

Ermenegilda Boccabella, Energy & Climate Adviser; and Dr Harpreet Sood, Health Adviser and practicing clinician, look at the impact of climate change on human health.

The energy companies emerging from the flurry of legislation the European Commission will release on July 14th will be very different from the existing ones. As the energy sector is compelled to reduce its emissions to close to zero by 2050 to achieve the EU net-zero goal, the commission is using its executive power to forge a new model of energy business that better fits…

There have been no shortage of concerns levelled against autonomous vehicles. Public perception is an important one, which is inextricably linked with fears about safety. Uber’s fatal self-driving crash in 2018 is now an obligatory reference point in any discussion about autonomous vehicles, and public scepticism persists even in spite of claims that the technology…

In a bonus episode, Miranda Lutz, Senior Associate in our US office is joined by Frederick Michell, Associate in the Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia practice, to discuss the implications of US-Russia relations on the tech industry.

Was Portugal’s push for a social recovery a success?

Indonesia’s two most valuable homegrown tech companies announced on May 17th that they are merging, marking an important turning point in the growth of Southeast Asia’s digital economy. Ride-hailing decacorn Gojek and e-commerce leader Tokopedia will be combining their businesses into a new entity called GoTo. At an expected valuation of at least $18 bn, GoTo will be the…

On June 14th, the EU digital covid certificate was signed into law. The regulation will apply for 12 months as of July 1st. This was an unusually rapid agreement by Brussels’ standards, reflecting the crucial importance of allowing tourism to restart safely for those member states that depend on it.  

Following a post-NATO dinner between the premiers of Australia and the UK, it was announced that a free trade agreement between the two countries had been agreed in ‘broad terms’. Further details are expected to be fleshed out soon, but it is not yet clear when the full text of the agreement will be finalised from a technical perspective and published.

Summits are high-stakes affairs, particularly for their hosts. The format of relatively free and unsupported interaction between leaders leaves more to chance than the final, carefully drafted communiques suggest. The strength or weakness of relationships comes to the fore. The ability of the chair to forge a path through the competing egos and interests matters. 

Jon Garvie, Practice lead for Policy; Denzil Davidson, Adviser; and Charley Roberts, Associate, Climate and Sustainability unpack the G7 leader’s summit, which will take place from Friday to Sunday in Carbis Bay, Cornwall.

When former Trade Secretary Liam Fox announced his full-throated support for a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) a few weeks ago, it was in many ways surprising that it had taken so long for a senior UK political figure to intervene in a debate that has been live in the EU for years.