Ashurst launches solution to simplify readiness and compliance with new EU ESG regulation

Against a looming 10 March 2021 deadline, global law firm Ashurst has today launched a new solution to help funds, banks and other financial services firms navigate this complex and evolving regulation to ensure readiness and compliance in advance of the regulation coming into force.

ESG Ready is a cloud-based digital legal advice product that draws together Ashurst's expertise into an easy-to-use tool applying sophisticated decision logic to classify organisations under the new regulation and generate customised trackers that enable transparent monitoring and compliance. Regulatory content will be updated by Ashurst's financial regulatory team as new guidance is published and automatically synced to the platform, ensuring users are up to date with any changes or developments in legislation. Advanced project management and collaboration features also make it easy to report progress to management.

It is the first digital product offering for Ashurst, and was developed collaboratively by the firm's NewLaw technology arm Ashurst Advance Digital and financial regulation and ESG/Sustainability legal experts.

"The impact of the new EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation is ambitious and far reaching," Lorraine Johnston, counsel in the financial regulatory team and product originator said. "It captures a large range of financial services and listed firms doing business in the EU regardless of where they are based. They need to know whether they fall into the scope of the regulations and therefore the implications this will have on their business. 

"The price for getting implementation wrong can be high – regulatory action, action for mis-selling by customers and reputational damage from accusations of 'green-washing' are just some possible consequences so it is imperative all businesses are ESG Ready come March next year.

"We've designed ESG Ready as a solution that is very much user friendly and focused. It is practical, accessible and will deliver tailored guidance on which users can rely to cost-effectively ensure compliance."

"ESG issues have long been on the agenda but Covid-19 has further complicated matters – while many businesses have been increasingly integrating ESG and sustainability considerations into their risk analysis, the need to prioritise the response to the pandemic would mean that for some, they are not as advanced in their preparations for the new EU requirements as they may have intended," Anna-Marie Slot, Global Environmental, Social and Governance Partner added.

"ESG Ready comes at the perfect time for those who need to understand what obligations are applicable to them so that they can be prepared. This is a strategically important regulatory change project and will be a focus shift for the financial services industry, so we're excited to be able to deliver a solution that will smooth this process for our clients."

"As Ashurst's first digital product, we're delighted about the way in which ESG Ready has come together," Tara Waters, head of Ashurst Advance Digital, said. "It's also a methodology that we can replicate for regulatory change implementation projects across every area - we’ve built more than a single product; we've developed the framework for a multitude of future products to come." 

"It is the perfect first example of what we established Ashurst Advance Digital to achieve – intrapreneurship which has sparked the development of a scalable digital product that perfectly marries our technology capability with our legal expertise to deliver new and better solutions for the most critical problems our clients are facing."