Green Policies, Regulations & Standards

Denmark’s Heat Supply Act regulates district heating through municipal heat planning and project authorisation frameworks. Municipalities map heat demand, define collective heating areas, and guide infrastructure expansion. Utilities and developers must align projects with plans and comply with procedural steps and approval conditions. Non-compliance typically involves proceeding without the correct planning basis, making material project changes without updated approvals, or failing procedural obligations. Because district heating is central to Denmark’s decarbonisation strategy, heat planning and authorisation timelines are key schedule drivers for infrastructure investors.

Portugal is transitioning toward CSRD-style sustainability reporting aligned with ESRS. The model requires in-scope companies to disclose sustainability impacts, risks, and opportunities using double materiality and standardised disclosures, with first-wave reporting commonly expected for FY2024, published in 2025. As CSRD is a directive, national transposition governs detailed enforcement mechanics, and the implementation context is evolving, with public communications about giving companies more time and news reporting on insufficient transposition steps. Companies face compliance risk from missing or misleading disclosures once in scope, and practical market risk from financing, procurement, and value-chain information demands.

The Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) is Germany’s main law for promoting renewable electricity through auctions, feed-in tariffs and grid-priority rules. This article summarises obligations, incentives, grid rules and sectoral impacts.

Denmark requires energy performance certificates for building sales, rentals, and new constructions. The certificates communicate energy efficiency and improvement opportunities and are a transaction-critical compliance element. Failure to obtain or present valid certificates can disrupt transactions and expose owners to enforcement action.

Portugal addresses contaminated soils largely through waste and licensing controls rather than a single dedicated contaminated land statute. Under the General Waste Management Regime (Decree-Law 102-D/2020), soil remediation operations are treated as regulated activities subject to licensing, supported by APA technical guidance on sampling, monitoring, and reference values. Regional licensing guidance indicates remediation licensing may be required before certain urban development approvals proceed. Compliance failures are typically procedural and operational: remediation without a licence, misclassification of contaminated materials, or weak evidence that remediation objectives were achieved, leading to stop orders, corrective requirements, and waste enforcement exposure.

Under the Canada Business Corporations Act, federally incorporated public companies (“distributing corporations”) have mandatory diversity disclosure obligations. Since January 1, 2020, these corporations must annually disclose diversity information on their board of directors and senior management for “designated groups”—including women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and members of visible minorities, using a “comply or explain” approach. Required disclosure includes representation statistics, whether a written diversity policy exists (and its objectives/measures), whether diversity is considered in nominations, and any diversity targets adopted. The disclosure must be provided to shareholders as part of proxy materials and filed with Corporations Canada. The regime promotes transparency and dialogue on corporate governance diversity beyond traditional gender-only frameworks.

Switzerland’s Ordinance on Climate Disclosures makes TCFD-aligned climate reporting mandatory for large companies from 1 January 2024. In-scope firms must disclose governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics and targets, typically for FY2024, with first publications in 2025. The regime increases legal and reputational risk for missing or misleading climate statements and pushes companies to formalise transition plans and climate-risk integration in governance. Switzerland has also initiated consultations to update the ordinance in line with evolving international standards.

Denmark’s packaging EPR regime makes producers responsible for financing and supporting the collection and treatment of packaging waste. Producers must register, report packaging placed on the market by material and category, pay scheme contributions, and maintain audit-ready documentation. The system is moving into full operational compliance during 2025, building on registration and reporting steps introduced in 2024. Common non-compliance patterns include failure to register, underreporting, misclassification of packaging materials, and weak evidence chains. EPR compliance is therefore a data, classification, and supplier-management discipline.

Switzerland’s Timber Trade Ordinance bans illegally harvested timber and requires market actors to operate a due diligence system to minimise the risk of illegal timber entering supply chains. The regime applies to operators and traders and is enforced through federal-cantonal responsibilities. Practical compliance hinges on traceability, supplier risk assessment, and documented mitigation. Non-compliance can lead to market restrictions, enforcement findings, and legal exposure, particularly where due diligence systems are absent or ineffective.

The EU Industrial Carbon Management Strategy outlines a comprehensive plan to scale carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), build a single cross-border CO₂ market and create new industrial value chains by 2040. This article explains what is required, the current policy status, obligations, and implications for industries.