Last week, SEC Chairman Gensler testified before the House Committee on Financial Services. As part of his talk, which addressed a number of topics--including, inter alia, artificial intelligence and crypto--Chairman Gensler...more
Today, President Biden issued the first veto of his presidency. This action had been heavily telegraphed in advance and was widely expected. Nonetheless, this veto is extraordinarily significant....more
In a recent lecture delivered at Columbia Law School/Business School at the "Going Public in the 2020s" conference, SEC Commissioner Uyeda bemoaned "the general decline in the number of public companies over the past...more
As we have noted previously, a number of Republican politicians had previously identified antitrust law as a potential counter to ESG efforts, particularly if companies began to coordinate a response to climate change. Even...more
Regulatory Developments -
During the past several weeks, there have been a couple of notable developments in connection with the SEC’s proposed climate disclosures rule, “The Enhancement and Standardization of...more
Three bills have recently been proposed by a trio of California state legislators concerning ESG financial disclosures and investing. The first, SB 253, would "require all large corporations that do business in California to...more
Last week, SEC Commissioner Uyeda delivered an address in which he "focus[ed] on issues related to asset managers' use of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment strategies." While his talk addressed many...more
Climate Change Litigation: Beginning in 2017, an array of state and local governments began pursuing claims against major fossil fuel producers — particularly the major oil companies (Chevron, Exxon, BP, Shell, and...more
Today, Chair Powell of the Federal Reserve delivered a speech at the Symposium of Central Bank Independence in Stockholm, Sweden, in which he stated that the Federal Reserve is "not, and will not be, a 'climate policymaker,'"...more
Beginning in 2017, an array of state and local governments have pursued tort claims against major fossil fuel producers (e.g., the major oil companies) alleging, inter alia, common law claims of nuisance based upon the...more
Recent developments in the Court of Chancery concerning a corporate board’s duty to monitor and provide oversight over a corporation’s operations, so-called Caremark claims, are likely to intersect with the Securities and...more
12/19/2022
/ Caremark claim ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Discovery ,
Duty to Monitor ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Proposed Rules ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
S&P recently purchased Shades of Green, which has been described as "the largest external reviewer of sustainable bond and green financing frameworks." This acquisition emphasizes the recent strategic move by major ratings...more
SEC Enforcement: In its yearly summary of enforcement activity, the SEC chose to highlight ESG-related issues as one of only a handful of subject matter areas that the SEC is focused on, indicating the significant priority...more
12/14/2022
/ Climate Change ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Energy Sector ,
Enforcement ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Sustainability
Last week, SEC Commissioner Peirce delivered a lengthy speech at the American Enterprise Institute, in which she extensively criticized the climate disclosure rules proposed by the SEC. Her critique deliberately extended...more
Public companies initiating the year-end reporting process will need to consider, and in many cases take steps to address, a number of significant developments and issues. To assist companies in this process, Mintz has...more
12/9/2022
/ Annual Meeting ,
Breach of Duty ,
Clawbacks ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Protection ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Insider Trading ,
Privacy Laws ,
Proxy Advisors ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholders ,
Stock Markets ,
Supply Chain ,
Ukraine
Yesterday, the Department of Labor "released a final rule under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) . . . [that] clarif[ied] that fiduciaries may consider climate change and other environmental, social, and...more
Regulatory Developments. During the past month, there have been two notable developments in connection with the SEC’s proposed climate disclosures rule — “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for...more
Last Thursday, the Biden Administration proposed that all federal contractors (except those receiving less than $7.5 million annually in contracts) be required to, among other things, disclose their GHG emissions....more
It has been publicly reported that the SEC is considering dropping “Scope 3” GHG emissions from the mandatory climate disclosures that were proposed last March. Such a development--a major change to the key policy initiative...more
Last Friday, the SEC re-opened the comment period on its climate disclosures rule--"The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors"--for a period of "14 days following publication of the...more
Today's edition of the New York Times featured an opinion piece that critiqued ESG investing--and not from the perspective that "values" investing is economically counter-productive. (For that viewpoint, the editorial page...more
In remarks delivered today to the SEC Investor Advisory Committee, SEC Commissioner Pierce--one of the Republican appointees to the Commission--offered a critique of the proposed SEC rule re: "greenwashing," which is the...more
Today, SEC Chairman Gensler testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. His remarks were wide-ranging, and touched upon a number of different SEC priorities--but Chairman Gensler made sure...more
During the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing on the nomination of Delaware Supreme Court Justice Montgomery-Reeves to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, certain Republican Senators, including Grassley (R-Iowa) and Lee...more
Climate Change Tort Litigation -
Beginning in 2017, an array of state and local governments have pursued claims against major fossil fuel producers — particularly the major oil companies (Chevron, Exxon, BP, Shell, and...more