Garrigues Sustainable Newsletter - April 2023

Energy transition: these are the new tax incentives for renewable energy and electric vehicles in Spain

Unrestricted and accelerated depreciation tax benefits have been available since 2023 for investments in assets that use energy from renewable sources and electric vehicles, respectively. These incentives originated from the Plan+SE program approved by the Council of Ministers in October 2022.

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Spain: This is the Royal Decree that aims to improve air quality and reduce episodes of high pollution

Royal Decree 34/2023 of January 24, 2023, amending the royal decree on improving air quality, the regulations on industrial emissions and on implementing the Law on integrated pollution prevention and control, and the royal decree on financial guarantees concerning waste, introduces significant environment-related amendments.

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Criminal compliance models as an indicator of the management of ESG factors and sustainability in companies

Gabriel Castro and Beatriz Bustamante, partner and principal associate, respectively, of the Garrigues Litigation and Arbitration Department, and Juan Pablo Regojo, director of the Compliance Unit of the Nueva Pescanova Group, address the ‘Models of organization and management in companies for crime prevention from a practical perspective’, in a new edition of ‘The Garrigues Sustainable Dialogs’.

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A useful sustainability management tool for boards of directors

DIRSE, in collaboration with Garrigues, has developed a toolkit to enable sustainability professionals to gain a more in-depth understanding of the legal aspects that regulate the operation of corporations and how ESG aspects should be applied and implemented by boards of directors, as well as the board’s responsibilities in this area.

Legislation

• The European Parliament approves the proposal for a directive on the pay gap
• Preliminary Bill on Equal Representation of Women and Men on Decision-Making Bodies
• The steps for preparation of the Preliminary Bill for the Sustainability Reporting Law are officially in motion
• New pieces of labor legislation in the Employment Law, the Law for real and actual equality of transgender and LGBTI people, and the Law on sexual and reproductive health
• Spanish Whistleblowing Law published

Trends

• Labor relations as an essential instrument to achieve equality between men and women
• There is no consensus among the authorities over how transfers of renewable energy projects under development are taxed

Latin America

• Chile: Implementation of the Energy Efficiency Law moves forward
• Mexico City's Circular Economy Law enters into force

Garrigues Sustainable

Financial Times' highlights Garrigues as a leading law firm in the fight against climate change

For the third year in a row, Garrigues has been recognized for its fight against climate change and has consolidated its position as the top-ranked European law firm that has most reduced its emissions according to the Financial Times-Statista Europe’s Climate Leaders list. This classification highlights the EU and UK companies that have reduced their greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) the most over a five-year period. In this year’s edition, the ranking looks at the period between 2016 and 2021. 

Garrigues, at the forefront of the legal sector in sustainability

Garrigues is the top-ranked law firm in Continental Europe according to the Impactvise ranking, which measures the ESG performance of over 1000 law firms worldwide. Our sixth place among the top 25 firms, alongside major UK and US firms, places us at the global forefront in sustainability terms.

Garrigues, top law firm in the Merco Responsibility ESG ranking

Garrigues is once again one of the 100 most responsible companies in Spain according to the 2022 Merco Responsibility ESG ranking. See the full ranking.