In an article by Casey J. Snyder, Associate at Reed Smith, published by the American Bar Association, we highlighted key U.S. climate litigation trends from 2015-2020. This timeframe showed a general increase in overall climate litigation and an emphasis in state courts to advance novel climate litigation theories, among other trends. New litigation in the United … Continue Reading
A report published September 1, 2021 by analytics provider Intelligize (“Report”) revealed that companies were “all over the map” when it came to current disclosure practices on Environmental Social and Governance (“ESG”) issues and that their executives and other professionals showed a “troubling” lack of knowledge about ESG issues. The survey responses came from hundreds … Continue Reading
A number of signs point to the fact that public companies should expect increased scrutiny on whether their environmental-related ESG offerings, practices and controls are consistent with their disclosures, claims and marketing material. SIGN #1: The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) announced that New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal will become the next … Continue Reading
Many public companies are keeping a close watch on potential GHG regulations because the shape of these regulations can significantly affect their regulatory and reporting obligations and thus affect their ESG obligations. There is a significant difference between two recent proposals on that front. CARBON TAX: The concept of a carbon tax is simple: fossil … Continue Reading
In a previous post, we reported on the Climate Risk Disclosure Act of 2021 (the “Act’) being placed on list of all bills reported from committee and eligible for House floor action, some sweeping changes required by that Act, and the Act’s uncertain future in the Senate. This Part II focuses on the effect of … Continue Reading
An example of a new trend towards recognizing “Environmental, Social and Governance” (“ESG”) impacts from business operations is the recently introduced Climate Risk Disclosure Act of 2021 (“the Act”). As currently drafted, the Act would require significant new public disclosures from publicly traded companies regarding financial risks to their operations and profitability from climate change … Continue Reading
In our previous ESG Update blog, we described what the then anticipated new EU-wide Sustainable Corporate Governance requirements might look like. On 21 April, The European Commission published a draft of the proposed new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). It will completely replace and significantly expand the scope of the current EU Non-Financial Reporting Directive. … Continue Reading
In our “What to expect in 2021” blog, one cross-sectoral EU initiative we flagged was forthcoming Commission proposals for far-reaching new EU-wide Sustainable Corporate Governance requirements. Here are some more details of what that might entail. Background Recent studies have suggested that companies performing well on ESG factors outperform their peers and that those with … Continue Reading
2021 is shaping up to be a very busy year for those who are affected by EU laws relating to Environment, Health & Safety, ESG and product compliance matters. Important developments are expected this year across a number of the EU’s flagship Green Deal policy initiatives, but there are many other significant initiatives to watch … Continue Reading
