ESG and sustainability

Sustainable finance and investment

Freshfields has created and implemented complex, highly structured solutions for organisations across the public and private sector, working with the world’s leading national and multinational corporations, financial institutions, export credit agencies and governments on business-critical mandates.

As the scale of capital needed to fund a sustainable future becomes apparent, the finance community will play a critical role in the transition to net zero.

To aid the mobilisation of the amount of capital needed for these purposes, the relative volume and complexity of green and sustainable financial instruments continue to grow. Green, social and sustainable use of proceeds bonds and loans, sustainability-linked bonds and loans, and an increasing range of ESG derivatives products are now widely available, and expected to increase market share further over the coming years.

The global regulatory framework governing the financial sector is also evolving, resulting in an operating environment that is more complex than ever. The rise of ESG investment and associated greenwashing has driven regulators to step up their efforts to increase transparency of companies and reduce fragmentation in sustainability reporting.

Our advice is founded within the increasingly regulated legal landscape that the financial market is facing, reducing the risks of greenwashing and strengthening the commercial integrity of decisions our clients make.

Client successes

Green bond financing of over €510m for CPPIB’s investment in Germany’s largest offshore wind project.

Advising Inter-American Development Bank on the innovative use of credit default swap technology with other multilateral finance institutions, including the World Bank and African Development Bank.

A Legal Framework for Impact for the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and the Generation Foundation.

The report paves the way for a programme of work assisting investors in engaging with policymakers to transform global financial systems to “invest for sustainability impact” (IFSI).

Advising Tesco on their inaugural issue of sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs). The €750m ESG-linked Notes were also the first SLBs to be issued by a UK rated issuer or by a retailer.

Advising Azora Capital on the establishment of a new capital venture fund to invest in ESG assets.

Azora may also acquire seed assets to be later transferred to the fund upon inception. Canepa will be partnering with Azora for these acquisitions and later invest as an LP in the fund. Once established, the fund units will be placed among foreign institutional investors.