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International Geothermal Market Set for Development Boom but Challenges Remain

What’s the next big opportunity for geothermal? According to panelists at last week's Renewable Energy World North America international geothermal session, it’s emerging markets. Kicking off the two-hour discussion, special guest Agnes Dasewicz of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) explained the Power Africa initiative, which launched in June 2013. USAID is attempting to unlock energy growth in six countries: Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, and — of particular interest to the geothermal crowd — Ethiopia.




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Danish Pension Fund To Invest in Renewable Energy Projects in Developing Nations

PensionDanmark A/S and other Danish pension investors backed a state fund to finance emission-reduction projects in developing countries as the Scandinavian nation seeks to export its climate know-how abroad.




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Energy Price Concerns Resonate in EU Talks on 2030 Climate Goals

The European Union should ensure that future climate and energy policies do not undermine the competitiveness of its industry, already weakened by a price gap with the U.S., the bloc’s member states said.




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Is Natural Gas Sucking Investment from Renewable Energy?

U.S. President Barack Obama says natural gas can be a bridge from coal to a cleaner energy future. Investors are showing it’s more likely a bridge to nowhere.




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EU Nations Mull Funds to Aid Clean Energy in 2030 Climate Deal

European Union governments are considering the use of carbon-permit funds to help finance clean technologies and spur poorer nations toward a low-carbon economy under a planned deal on 2030 climate and energy policies.




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India Renewables Boom Aided by International Funds

India said cheaper credit along with foreign investment will help the world’s third-largest polluter fund an ambitious renewable energy program that would build green power plants faster than China.




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Israeli settlements require international legal attention, envoy says

A U.N. special envoy on Palestinian issues said Friday it was time for the International Court of Justice to assess what he said was Israeli colonialism.




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UK Discrimination Law Review: Cases to watch

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UK Discrimination Law Review: Sexual orientation discrimination

In the case of Smith v Ideal Shopping Direct Ltd [2013], the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) considered the statutory definition of harassment. Facts Mr Smith was an openly gay employee of Ideal Shopping Direct Limited. He brought a claim allegin...




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UK Discrimination Law Review: Surrogacy and maternity leave

The issue of maternity rights for surrogate parents has recently caused confusion ‘’ with two Advocates General to the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’) giving conflicting guidance.  Final rulings are expec...




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Eversheds' Discrimination Law Review: January 2014

Eversheds' Discrimination Law Review: January 2014 Introduction from Audrey Williams, Head of Discrimination Law Welcome to the latest edition of our Discrimination Law Review. Our focus, in this edition, is on recent significant cases.  As eve...




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UK Discrimination Law Review: Cases to watch

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UK Discrimination Law Review: Legislation tracker

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UK Discrimination Law Review: Religious discrimination and group disadvantage

In 2013 we had the long awaited decisions in the combined appeals brought in the cases of Eweida and others v The United Kingdom.  These comprised the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights, applying the right to freedom of thought cons...




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UK Discrimination Law Review: Post-employment victimisation and the effects of Jessemy and Onu

Post-employment victimisation and the effects of Jessemy and Onu. The Court of Appeal has recently held that post-employment victimisation is unlawful, overturning the previous decision in Rowstock Ltd & another v Jessemey  and providing he...




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UK Discrimination Law Review: Dramatic decline in Employment Tribunal claims

Employment Tribunal statistics for the period October to December 2013 have shown a sharp decline in the number of Employment Tribunal claims brought since the fees regime was introduced last Summer. The statistics: in summaryThe latest statistics s...




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UK Discrimination Law Review: Post-natal depression: are there limits to the law’s protection from detriment?

Is it necessarily unlawful for an employer to dismiss an employee for incapability if she fails to return to work following the end of maternity leave, where the reason for the absence is post-natal depression (or other pregnancy-connected illness)?...




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UK Discrimination Law Review: Age discrimination and compulsory retirement

Since the removal of the default retirement age, there have been surprisingly few cases giving guidance as to when an employee might be lawfully retired.  Some employers have implemented their own ‘Employer Justified Retirement Age’...




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UK Discrimination Law Review: Caste Discrimination

In the case of Tirkey v Chandok and another [2013], an Employment Tribunal considered whether that the existing definition of “race” within the Equality Act 2010 was wide enough to capture discrimination on the basis of caste. Background...




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UK Discrimination Law Review: Surrogacy

In the recent cases of CD v ST and Z v A Government Department and the Board of Management of a Community School, the Court of Justice of the European Union  clarified the position regarding the protections and benefits that should be afforded ...




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UK Discrimination Law Review: Discrimination based on obesity

Later this year the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) is expected to give a ruling addressing, for the first time, the extent to which EU law protects workers against discrimination on grounds of obesity.  In the meantime, one of the CJEU&rsquo...




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UK Discrimination Law Review: Legislation tracker

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UK Discrimination Law Review: Equal Pay Audits: new Tribunal powers

We have been through a very significant period of change for Employment Tribunals over the past two years: with the introduction of fees, pre-claim conciliation and new Tribunal Rules, all of which are likely to reduce the number of Tribunal claims ...




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UK Discrimination Law Review: Code of practice for employers: Avoiding unlawful discrimination while preventing illegal working

Employers have a duty to carry out document checks on individuals before employing them.  The aim of the checks is to ensure that individuals have the legal right to work in the UK.  Correctly carrying out document checks gives employers a...




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UK Discrimination Law Review: Age discrimination and retirement: Seldon – the final chapter

In the latest, and what we can now assume is the last, chapter in the long running Seldon case concerning compulsory retirement, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has upheld the Tribunal’s decision that compulsory retirement, in this case i...




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UK Discrimination Law Review: Age Discrimination – pay and pay protection

The Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) has recently given another decision on the subject of age discrimination and justification.  Whilst many of the previous judgments have focused on issues around retirement age, unusually the Specht case dea...




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UK Discrimination Law Review: Shared parental leave: an update

On 1 December 2014 we are expecting legislation to come into force that will give effect to the new shared parental leave regime. The new regime will apply to employees in England, Scotland and Wales whose babies are due, or who will adopt a child, ...




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Uk Discrimination Law Review: Redundancy and reasonable adjustments

The Employment Appeals Tribunal (“EAT”) has recently given an interesting ruling on  redundancy selection which could open the door to more claims from disabled employees. Background <...




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Discrimination based on obesity following Kaltoft

Advocate General (AG) Jääskinen has concluded that there is no general principle of EU law prohibiting discrimination in the labour market, and that includes discrimination on grounds of obesity as a self-standing ground of unlawful discri...




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UK Discrimination Law Review: Legislation tracker

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UK Discrimination Law Review: Cases to watch

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UK Discrimination Law Review: Tax on discrimination compensation

In a recent case the First-tier Tribunal (Tax) confirmed that a compensation payment that was made to an employee on the termination of their employment was taxable, notwithstanding that the payment related to discrimination and injury to feelings. ...




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UK Discrimination Law Review: Mental illness, culpability and gross misconduct

Mental illness, culpability and gross misconduct A recent appeal case illustrates the difficulties that can arise when dealing with instances of apparent misconduct where a mental impairment could have affected an employee’s ability to control ...




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UK Discrimination Law Review: Wheelchair users and public transport

The Court of Appeal has dismissed a claim of disability discrimination brought by a wheelchair user who was unable to travel on a bus because the designated wheelchair space was already occupied by a passenger with a child in a buggy. The Court of A...




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UK Discrimination Law Review: Disability, diet and diabetes

A recent ruling from the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) suggests that it will be difficult for an individual with type 2 diabetes (or some other impairment) to show that the condition, in itself, constitutes a disability if he or she can eliminate...




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UK Discrimination Law Review: Mandatory gender pay reporting

By March 2016 new regulations will be in place that will require larger employers in the private and third sector to publish details of their gender pay gap ie the difference in pay between male and female employees. The new rules, which will come a...




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UK Discrimination Law Review: Trivial pursuit: minor upsets and non-harassment

A recent decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal has stressed that trivial acts, even if related to a protected characteristic, will not constitute unlawful harassment. The case of Henderson v GMB is a useful reminder that the Equality Act is not...




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UK Discrimination Law Review: Disability discrimination and bonus schemes

Bonus schemes operated by employers will often make eligibility dependant on matters such as attendance. A recent case illustrates how such schemes can fall foul of disability discrimination law. Background The Land Registry operated a discretionary...




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UK Discrimination Law Review: Changing terms of employment: indirect age discrimination

Imposing changes to terms and conditions of employment is rarely a straightforward exercise.  As well as dealing with issues such as collective and individual consultation, the risk of unfair dismissal and breach of contract claims, and (in som...




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UK Discrimination Law Review: Equality law forecast

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UK Discrimination Law Review: Indirect discrimination - analysing the nature of and reason for disadvantage

A recent judgment of the Court of Appeal suggests that in some indirect discrimination cases there should be a greater focus on the nature of and reason for the claimed disadvantage than has previously been the case. The ruling may make it harder fo...




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UK Discrimination Law Review: English (or Welsh) fluency in the public sector

In August the Government announced plans for new laws to ensure all public sector workers in public-facing roles speak fluent English (or, in Welsh authorities, English or Welsh). Further details of the proposals have now been revealed in the Immigr...




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UK Discrimination Law Review: Equality law forecast




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UK Discrimination Law Review: Discrimination by association - latest developments

For some time now it has been recognised that direct discrimination occurs not only if someone is treated less favourably because of their own protected characteristics, but also if they are treated less favourably because of somebody else’s p...




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UK Pensions Speedbrief: Age discrimination challenge to judicial pension scheme succeeds

UK Pensions Speedbrief: Age discrimination challenge to judicial pension scheme succeedsThe Employment Tribunal has handed down its



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UK Pensions Speedbrief: Public sector age discrimination appeals - latest

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has ruled that the transitional arrangements in the New Judges Pension Scheme (NJPS) constitute unlawful age discrimination.  In a related case, the EAT has also held that the Employment Tribunal (ET) f...




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Redundancy and Age Discrimination - the Tower Hamlets case

A recent Employment Appeal Tribunal decision (The Mayor and Burgess of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets v Mr J Wooster) has found a local authority liable for unfair dismissal and age discrimination where it made insufficient effort to redeploy a...




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Income Strip, Annuity, Bond – alternative investment in real estate

Eversheds Sutherland property column: September 2018 Originally published in Practical law In these uncertain times, if cash is king, income is emperor. As a consequence, investors are looking for long-term, lower risk investments in the real estate...




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Income Strips and Student Accommodation - an alternative funding model for Higher Education Institutions

Economic and political uncertainty since the Brexit vote and fear of a predicted debt crisis have increased funding pressures on Higher Education Institutions when putting their estates strategies into action.  A perfect storm of a predicted dr...




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Accessing foreign investment protection for international construction and engineering projects

In 2015, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) estimated that foreign direct investment for the construction of greenfield projects in developing economies had jumped from US$22 billion in 2013, to US$42 billion in 2014 wit...