Greenwashing Outlook: Legal & Regulatory Compliance and Risk Management Approaches

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Linklaters and AFME are delighted to invite you to a half-day “Greenwashing Outlook” conference.

We will be joined by

  • Fayyaz Muneer, HM Treasury Deputy Director for Prudential and Sustainability, Financial Services group;
  • Alicia Kedzierski, FCA Head of  Department for ESG;
  • Dora Blanchet from ESMA’s Sustainable Finance Unit;
  • Hayley Fletcher, CMA Interim Senior Director, Consumer Protection.

along with panellists from financial institutions navigating the real-life, real-time challenges in this space.

Alongside these speakers, we will also be joined by advisors to policy-setters including Vanessa Havard-Williams (Lead of the Transition Finance Market Review) and Mark Manning (independent advisor on sustainable finance and Visiting Senior Fellow at LSE) who will focus on greenwashing in the context of transition planning and disclosure.

With the first panel session starting at 9am, the morning begins by addressing the regulatory landscape faced by all types of financial services firms. 

From 10.20am we will move on to explore the wider themes, risks and opportunities relevant to not only financial services firms but corporates from all sectors. 

Specifically, we will be exploring:

  • The state of play of the various greenwashing frameworks and obligations, and their interaction both with each other across the globe and with the wider ESG landscape;
  • Greenwashing beyond the financial services regulators – with a look at the impact and influence of other regulatory regimes particularly in the competition, advertising and broader consumer-focused spaces;
  • Greenwashing litigation and enforcement trends; and
  • The impact of greenwashing regulation, supervision, litigation and enforcement trends on risk management, and practical approaches to sharing the opportunities whilst managing the risks.

Alongside representatives from HMT, your regulators, AFME and industry experts, Linklaters lawyers will provide practical insights on each of the above topics and on how firms can build organisation-wide compliance against a backdrop of myriad differing local and sectoral regimes.

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Guest Speakers

Alicia Kedzierski - Head of Department for ESG at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)

Alicia Kedzierski is the Head of Department for ESG at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and is responsible for setting the regulatory ESG strategy and leading policy and technical work. This includes embedding ESG across the FCA’s activities. Alicia has led the Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) Policy, the Vote Reporting Group, as well as the FCA's work on Transition Finance, Transition Planning, and other high profile projects. She is also Co-Chair of the IOSCO Assurance Workstream on Sustainable Finance. 
 
Alicia previously led critical projects for the FCA, including the regulatory response to the Cost of Living Crisis. Her experience spans the UK and working across the Middle East and Africa, including development projects. Previously, Alicia worked at Deloitte, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Bank of England. Her background is in Law.

 

Dora Blanchet - Head of Unit, Sustainable Finance at the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)

Dora Blanchet is head of unit in charge of sustainable finance at the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). Her unit coordinates and oversees the Authority’s work related to the various actors of the sustainable investment value chain with the objective to implement ESMA’s Sustainable Finance Roadmap 2022-2024. In this context, ESMA published a Progress and a Final Report on Greenwashing as well as an Opinion on the Functioning of the Sustainable Finance Framework.

Dora joined ESMA in 2016 as team leader of supervisory convergence in which function, she designed and managed various initiatives to deal with Brexit related supervisory matters or conduct peer reviews. She started her career at the European Commission and worked for several years at the French Autorité des marchés financiers.

Hayley Fletcher - interim Senior Director for Consumer Protection at the CMA

Hayley Fletcher is the interim Senior Director for Consumer Protection at the CMA, responsible for its consumer enforcement work and preparation for its new enforcement powers under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA). She was previously a Director working across the CMA's enforcement and markets tools, including its recent work on AI Foundation Models.

Prior to joining the CMA, Hayley worked at a number of regulators, including the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Ofcom and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). Hayley holds an MSc in Regulation from the London School of Economics.

Muneer Fayyaz - Deputy Director for Prudential and Sustainability in the Financial Services Group of HM Treasury


Fayyaz Muneer is the Deputy Director for Prudential and Sustainability in the Financial Services Group of HM Treasury. His team is responsible for the regulatory framework for sustainable finance, including sustainability-related disclosures, the UK Green Taxonomy and transition plans, as well as the prudential regime for banks and investment firms. Fayyaz has been at the Treasury since 2012, and has worked in policy roles across public spending, tax, and financial services.