Climate Risks

Climate change presents both opportunities and risks for organisations and insurers alike.

With an increasing focus on the way organisations manage and reduce their environmental footprint, their alignment with the Paris Agreement, and how they disclose and manage their climate-related targets, all organisations are facing increasing scrutiny.
 
Globally, both “greenwashing” and “greenhushing” are being targeted by regulators and interest groups, while shareholders are increasingly demanding company boards protect their investments by taking action on climate related risks.
 
In this environment of intense scrutiny and rising litigation, Hicksons’ Climate Risks Team offers a proactive approach to climate-related risks, advising clients on managing and mitigating the risks, responding to the evolving regulatory and legislative landscape, defending claims and litigation, while identifying potential opportunities as the world transitions to a low carbon economy.

Our Climate Risks team can assist across a range of issues, including:

• managing and mitigating climate-related legal risks for insurers, financial institutions, corporations, public and private sector organisations and their directors and officers;
• providing ‘gap analysis’ advice for organisations in preparation for new climate disclosure laws (as foreshadowed in the exposure draft of the Treasury Laws Amendment Bill 2024: Climate-related financial disclosure);
• interpreting and complying with the regulatory requirements and ‘best practice’ guidelines, including the Task Force for Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework;
• advice on ‘greenwashing’ and climate litigation risks, including reviewing public statements prior to release;
• advising organisations, their boards of directors, and officers on their duties in managing climate-related financial risks;
• advising on environmental liability claims brought under environmental insurance policies; and
• acting in and managing, litigation arising from climate change and climate-related risks.