The European Commission has introduced the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) to bolster the digital infrastructure of the financial sector within the European Union (EU). As part of the EU's wider digital finance strategy, DORA's objective is to create a comprehensive framework governing digital operational resilience. Financial institutions must ensure full compliance with DORA by January 2025.

Companies used to have an easier time complying with regulations, but compliance has really never been a straightforward endeavor. In the past, there was one set of rules for businesses to obey, the local rules in the place where companies do business. If the business expanded into new parts of the world, they would have to comply with new rules, but these would apply only to those new territories. The global economy means an end to this approach.

Organizations in Europe are currently facing the challenge of reducing energy consumption and improving sustainability in light of the European Green Deal. The EU Green Deal has been approved by the European Commission which focuses on decreasing greenhouse gas emissions by 55% compared to the 1990 levels by 2030. Europe is striving to be the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.

The new law, SB 253, aims to bring more transparency and accountability to the public about how big businesses contribute to climate change. It also hopes to encourage companies to reduce their emissions and align with the state’s ambitious climate goals. By 2030, California plans to lower its greenhouse gas emissions by 40% below what they were in 1990.

In 2022, Ofcom, a UK regulator, began its market study into the cloud industry to investigate the dominance that hyperscalers, especially AWS and Microsoft, hold over the industry and the limits this creates for customers. This investigation follows concerns surrounding customers feeling “locked in” to a single provider, potentially leading to inflated prices in the market¹.