In August 2023, the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) issued its proposed International Standard on Sustainability Assurance (ISSA) 5000, “General Requirements for Sustainability Assurance...more
A new study by the IBM Institute for Business Value found that approximately half of CEOs and their executive teams surveyed have their compensation tied to the organizations’ performance in relation to sustainability goals....more
In a civil suit filed in Oregon state court in June 2023, an Oregon county is suing more than a dozen large oil, gas and coal companies, seeking more than $50 million in damages, in connection with a 2021 “heat dome” and...more
9/5/2023
/ Chevron ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Climate Change ,
ConocoPhillips ,
Energy Policy ,
Environmental Policies ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Fraud ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Infrastructure ,
Investment ,
Negligence ,
Oil & Gas ,
Oregon ,
Public Nuisance ,
Severe Weather ,
Shell Oil
Consumers’ Research, a nonprofit organization claiming to challenge “companies that have chosen to put woke politics above consumer interests,” announced in June 2023 that it was launching a publicity campaign against a...more
The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), a European membership body for investor collaboration on climate change, announced the launch of its Net Zero Engagement Initiative (NZEI). A primary goal of the...more
5/5/2023
/ Capital Investments ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Investment ,
Investment Portfolios ,
Net Zero ,
Paris Agreement ,
Popular
The European Commission last month announced a proposed Net-Zero Industry Act designed to drive the investment in and the growth of the clean technology manufacturing sector. The proposed Act is part of the Green Deal...more
In early April, the climate activist shareholder group, Follow This, filed shareholder resolutions seeking stronger energy transition strategies from several oil “super-majors.” The resolutions have been filed in advance of...more
4/25/2023
/ BP ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Chevron ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Energy Policy ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Financing ,
Fossil Fuel ,
General Meetings ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Infrastructure ,
Investment ,
Oil & Gas ,
Paris Agreement ,
Shell Corporations
On March 30, 2023, the UK government announced the publication of its 2023 green finance strategy, updating its earlier 2019 strategy, which is intended to mitigate climate-related risk and damage while increasing the amount...more
4/4/2023
/ Climate Action Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Green Finance ,
Investment ,
IOSCO ,
New Guidance ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Risk Mitigation ,
UK
On February 7, a group of 30 investors, representing over $1.5 trillion of assets under management, wrote to the CEOs and board chairs of five major European banks “urging them to stop directly financing new oil and gas...more
2/27/2023
/ Banks ,
Barclays ,
BNP Paribas ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Financing ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Energy Projects ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment ,
Oil & Gas ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Reform
Just days after the Texas Senate questioned a global asset manager—among other major financial investment firms—about its ESG-related investing policies, its chief executive said in an interview for the Financial Times that...more
Mark T. Uyeda, Commissioner at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), spoke at the California ‘40 Acts Group on January 27 regarding various investment-related ESG issues....more
Blackrock’s recently released 2023 Investment Stewardship Global Principles, identifies several key themes to guide stakeholders and promote sound corporate governance regarding sustainability-related issues. At a high level,...more
1/24/2023
/ Biodiversity ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
IFRS ,
Investment ,
SASB ,
Sustainability ,
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
It is hardly news that ESG investing is a significant aspect of the asset management industry. According to Barron’s, $400 billion was invested in U.S. mutual funds and assets that have an ESG orientation in 2021. However,...more
On November 24, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a pair of decisions addressing threshold requirements for securities fraud claims under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and...more
12/8/2021
/ Appeals ,
Article III ,
Failure To Disclose ,
Investment ,
Material Misstatements ,
Omissions ,
Pleading Standards ,
Proxy Statements ,
Rule 10(b) ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Litigation ,
Securities Transactions ,
Standing
The recent IPO for Rivian Automotive Inc., the electric pick-up truck manufacturer whose shares increased 29% on the day following the offering, resulting in an enterprise valuation of more than $86 billion – more than the...more
12/2/2021
/ Business Strategies ,
Capital Investments ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Investment ,
Risk Assessment ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Sustainable Business Practices
On September 20, 2021, in Pirani v. Slack Technologies, Inc., a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that investors who purchase stock in a “direct listing”—in which pre-existing shares are...more
11/2/2021
/ Article III ,
Class Action ,
Direct Listing ,
Investment ,
Misrepresentation ,
Registration Statement ,
Section 11 ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Transactions ,
Securities Violations ,
Slack ,
Standing ,
Unregistered Securities
On April 23, 2021, in Ford v. TD Ameritrade Holding Corp., a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed a district court order certifying a class action alleging that TD Ameritrade committed securities...more
Following these ten steps will prepare SPAC boards, sponsors, and advisors for the likely shareholder suits and potential regulatory investigations that are increasingly becoming part of the SPAC landscape....more
On June 21, 2019, in United States v. Lee, Judge Paul G. Gardephe of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued an order vacating the guilty plea of a former investment portfolio analyst, Richard...more
6/28/2019
/ Confidential Information ,
Evidence ,
Guilty Pleas ,
Insider Trading ,
Investment ,
Investment Management ,
Personal Benefit ,
SAC Capital ,
Vacated ,
White Collar Crimes ,
Yahoo!
Over the past few years, private equity funds and hedge funds have increasingly employed tactics traditionally employed by the other as part of their value maximization strategies. Underscoring this convergence has been a...more
3/3/2017
/ Filing Requirements ,
Going-Private Transactions ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Hedge Funds ,
Insider Trading ,
Investment ,
Private Equity ,
Schedule 13D ,
Section 16 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Value Maximization