The Legal Risks Working Groups is aimed at supporting banks in developing good environmental and social practices by taking into account existing and emerging regulatory, supervisory and private enforcement actions. The working group draws on lessons learned from participants and identifies key questions and considerations for banks going forwards. Below is a detailed timeline of sessions and resources available to participants.
Session Summaries and Resources
Note: Sessions for this group are not recorded.
18 February 2025 – Human rights: complaints, communications, frameworks and litigation
This session covered how human rights are being deployed in litigation/complaints and other enforcement action as is relevant to banks, as well as the specific interplay between climate and human rights. The law firm Freshfields gave an update on related litigation/NCA complaints, and due diligence regulation. This included the Shell judgement and its relevance for banks (following recent announcements), and the BNP Paribas case. We also heard from the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and their recent communication to 13 financial institutions on human rights compliant financing activities.
Download Slides.
25 February 2025 – Deep dive on the practical management of human rights risks and impacts
This was a practical session jointly held with UNEP FI’s Human Rights Community of Practice. We were joined by two banks that shared their approach to developing their human rights policy, due diligence and making linked disclosures. We also heard from UNEP FI’s human rights/social lead who discussed supporting tools in this area, as well as EY who gave a market-wide commentary on key learnings from disclosures in this area.
Download Slides.
12 March 2025 – Introduction to developments in environmental crime
This session covered legal risks for banks arising from environmental crime, including through AML requirements, through examining complaints/claims and emerging trends in legal frameworks globally in this area. We were joined by the law firm Clifford Chance as well as the United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime who gave a global overview of the legislative landscape with regards to criminalisation of actions harming the environment. We were also joined by a bank discussing its approach and some of their initiatives in this area.
Upcoming Sessions
8 April 2025 – Understanding and managing legal/supervisory enforcement risks from transition plans
In this session we will look at how litigation and supervisory enforcement action can arise from banks’ corporate climate transition plans/transition plan disclosures. We will consider the implications of recent litigation (globally) and will learn about good practices in this area. We will hear from PwC and the law firm Pollination on this topic.
7 May 2025 (tentative date) – Good practices in developing sustainable finance frameworks and making corporate sustainable financing disclosures
This session will consider good practices in developing sustainable finance frameworks and making corporate disclosures on sustainable finance. We will hear from a bank about its approach to developing its sustainable finance framework and a Big 4 firm who will provide a market-wide perspective on this topic, whilst also drawing out points for consideration in the light of recent complaints to regulators in this area.
4 June 2025 (tentative date) – Introduction to nature–related litigation and nature-related supervisory enforcement risks
In this session we will consider litigation and complaints that are relevant to banks’ management of nature-related risks. We will hear from academic authors/law firm (tbc) on litigation in this area. We will also consider legal risks arising from nature-related disclosures and will hear from a Big 4 firm on lessons learnt from their disclosure reviews.
7 July 2025 (tentative date) – Key learnings on addressing greenwashing in the banking sector
Providing there are enough banks who participate in UNEP FI’s market study we will discuss how banks are managing their greenwashing risks at the client, product and entity level. This will be a co-hosted session with EY (tbc) where we will share learnings and insights from our market review. This output is part of the 23/24 Programme.