Andy Burnett
Andy is an associate in the London office of Kirkland & Ellis International LLP and a member of the Firm’s ESG & Impact Practice Group, which advises private equity firms, corporations, project sponsors and lenders on complex and evolving legal issues relating to environmental, social and governance (ESG) and climate-related regulatory requirements, investor demands, strategic opportunities, and voluntary reporting frameworks and coalitions.
He advises across the full range of ESG legal services, including ESG-linked private and public market financings, fund formation mandates, and corporate M&A transactions. He has advised funds on the application of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation to the categorization, strategy and operational risk and opportunity management programs of their alternative investment funds. As part of this work, he has helped establish market-leading ESG-driven Article 9 funds and is particularly interested in the development of impact strategies.
Andy also supports clients in navigating the evolving business and human rights landscape, including in relation to modern slavery, diversity and inclusivity and soft law standards like the OECD Guidelines and UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Andy is qualified in England & Wales.
Practice Area
Panel
- Contributing Author
Qualified Year
- 2021
Experience
- Debevoise & Plimpton LLP (2019 - 2022)
Membership
- Global Alliance of Impact Lawyers (GAIL)
- Law Society
Qualifications
- BA, Law (2018)
- LPC (2020)
Education
- Jesus College, University of Cambridge (2018)
- The University of Law (2020)
2 Contributions by Andy Burnett
PRACTICE NOTES
EU SFDR II review: consultations on RTS, PAI, Articles 8/9 and product labelling; ESMA fund names and UK FCA SDR—archived FAQ for UK lawyers
ARCHIVED : This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained.
These Q&As address many of the most common queries on consultations relating to the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), covering proposed adjustments to the delegated regulations and the SFDR review (SFDR II).
There are a number of ongoing consultations on SFDR—are material changes expected?
In 2023, numerous consultations on Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 (EU SFDR) took place, including an assessment of the SFDR Delegated Regulation (which contains the regulatory technical standards) (Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/1288, as amended) concentrating on revisions to the principal adverse impacts (PAI) regime and specific financial product disclosures, alongside a targeted and public consultation seeking feedback on amendments to the EU SFDR itself (EU SFDR II).
Possible outcomes may feature updated templates, stricter obligations for data collection and diligence on negative externalities, and potentially changes to the Article 8 and Article 9 classifications. Certain private equity industry bodies are proposing a voluntary labelling framework to sit alongside mandatory disclosures, taking inspiration from the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) proposals. For more information, see Practice Note: Sustainable finance and ESG in the UK financial sector—FCA's priority areas—Trust:...
Financial Services
PRACTICE NOTES
EU SFDR RTS: FAQs on Article 8/9 criteria, PAI/PASI data, sustainable investment diligence, exclusions, third‑party data and non‑EU AIFM entity‑level disclosures [Archived]
ARCHIVED : This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained.
These Q&As address many of the most common queries on the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (EU SFDR) regulatory technical standards (RTS) (Regulation (EU) 2019/2088, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2020/852).
Product categorisation
Article 8 features
Principal adverse impacts (PAI) data gathering
Reliance on third-party data
Human rights due diligence
Implications for non-EU managers
On 6 April 2022, the European Commission signed off the final RTS and their Annexes supplementing the EU SFDR (Regulation (EU) 2019/2088, as amended by the EU Taxonomy Regulation (EU) 2020/852).
EU SFDR places substantial ESG transparency duties on asset managers offering funds in the EU.
The RTS set out compulsory website, pre-contractual and periodic reporting templates for financial market participants and covered financial products.
For further details, see Commission publishes adopted RTS containing disclosure rules on sustainable investments under EU SFDR, LNB News 06/04/2022 92.
Below we respond to frequently posed questions on EU SFDR informed by the 2022 final RTS.
EU SFDR has been brought in through phased requirements supplemented...
Financial Services
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