On April 19, 2024, the US Environmental Protection Agency (“US EPA”) announced its final rule designating two per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”), namely perfluorooctanoic acid (“PFOA”) and perfluorooctanesulfonic...more
5/16/2024
/ CERCLA ,
Contamination ,
Drinking Water ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Hazardous Substances ,
New Rules ,
PFAS ,
Public Health ,
RCRA ,
Toxic Chemicals
The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures ("TNFD") released its final framework (the "TNFD Framework") on September 18. The TNFD Framework encourages organisations to integrate nature into decision-making and...more
11/9/2023
/ Biodiversity ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Financing ,
Framework Agreement ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Sustainability
The California State Senate and State Assembly recently approved two bills, Senate Bill 253 and Senate Bill 261, that could require thousands of companies doing business in California to disclose greenhouse gas ("GHG")...more
9/27/2023
/ California ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Energy Sector ,
General Assembly ,
Governor Newsom ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Legislative Agendas ,
New Legislation ,
Popular ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Reporting Requirements ,
State and Local Government ,
State Legislatures
On June 30, 2022, the Supreme Court ruled that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cannot use the Clean Air Act to require fossil fuel power facilities to implement a measure known as "generation shifting" without...more
On March 21, 2022, in a landmark proposal, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") proposed rules that would require public companies to disclose extensive climate-related information in their SEC filings....more
3/25/2022
/ Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Regulation S-X ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation
On February 15, the White House announced initiatives focused on a "cleaner" industrial sector in the United States. A fact sheet detailing the announcement highlights federal agency actions relating to what the White House...more
Over April 22nd and 23rd, the Biden administration hosted 40 world leaders in a climate summit coinciding with Earth Day. The leaders announced a variety of pledges and ambitions relating to curbing greenhouse gas emissions...more
4/28/2021
/ Air Pollution ,
Biden Administration ,
Clean Air Act ,
Climate Change ,
Earth Day ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Oil & Gas ,
Paris Agreement ,
Regulatory Agenda
While ESG issues have been a "hot topic" for several years, in recent weeks, the SEC has significantly increased its focus on the topic, paying particular attention to climate:
- Corp Fin to Focus on Climate Disclosure: On...more
Three states and the District of Columbia reached agreement on December 21 to combat climate change by reducing carbon dioxide emissions from the transportation sector via a cap-and-invest system.
Massachusetts, Rhode...more
These are unprecedented times, and companies are facing important issues as they navigate the current economic, political, and social climate. The COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement have put the spotlight on...more
8/17/2020
/ Annual Meeting ,
Black Lives Matter ,
Board of Directors ,
Business Continuity Plans ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Culture ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Diversity ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Rights ,
Employee Training ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Ethical Standards ,
Filing Requirements ,
Fortune 100 ,
Green Finance ,
Human Capital ,
Popular ,
Proxy Statements ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Renewable Energy ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Socially Responsible Investments ,
Surveys ,
Sustainability ,
Workplace Safety
The Supreme Court ruled on April 23, 2020 that federal law can require a permit for pollutant discharges that travel through groundwater to surface water. The Court’s ruling establishes a new standard by which a Clean Water...more
4/29/2020
/ Appeals ,
Clean Water Act ,
Direct Discharge ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Environmental Violations ,
Functional Equivalent ,
Groundwater ,
Hawaii Wildlife Fund v County of Maui ,
Navigable Waters ,
NPDES ,
Permits ,
Point Sources ,
Remand ,
SCOTUS ,
Vacated ,
Waters of the United States
This memorandum outlines key considerations from White & Case’s Public Company Advisory Practice for foreign private issuers (“FPIs”) in preparation for the 2020 annual reporting season. It describes our key considerations...more
1/23/2020
/ Annual Reports ,
C&DIs ,
Confidential Information ,
Corp Fin ,
Critical Audit Matters (CAMs) ,
Cybersecurity ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) ,
Foreign Private Issuers ,
Form 20-F ,
IFRS ,
Libor ,
Non-GAAP Financial Measures ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
PCAOB ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Risk Factors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
State Sponsors of Terrorism ,
UK Brexit ,
XBRL Filing Requirements
The Trump administration proposed rules intended to speed up approval of major projects subject to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), such as pipelines, power facilities, mines, highways, and other public...more
1/18/2020
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Climate Change ,
Coal Mines ,
Environmental Assessments ,
Environmental Impact Report (EIR) ,
Federal Land ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Highways ,
Land-Use Permits ,
NEPA ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Notice Requirements ,
Pipelines ,
Power Infrastructure ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Rescission ,
Rollbacks ,
Trump Administration
This memorandum outlines key considerations from White & Case's Public Company Advisory Practice for US public companies in preparation for the 2020 annual reporting and proxy season.
Section I of this memo describes our...more
In light of the heightened focus on environmental and social (“E&S”) disclosure, White & Case’s Public Company Advisory Group conducted a survey of E&S website disclosures of 84 small- and mid-cap US public reporting...more
12/5/2019
/ Capitalization ,
Common Reporting Standard (CRS) ,
Corporate Governance ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Health and Safety ,
Human Rights ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Life Sciences ,
Public Disclosure ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Retailers ,
Services ,
Surveys ,
Sustainability ,
Technology Sector ,
Websites
In New York Supreme Court, Exxon was on trial for allegedly misleading investors about the business costs of climate change. The central allegation was that Exxon fraudulently used two distinct sets of metrics to calculate...more
11/11/2019
/ Climate Change ,
Common Law Claims ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Dismissal With Prejudice ,
Evidentiary Standards ,
Exxon Mobil ,
Investment Fraud ,
Popular ,
Proxy Statements ,
Reputational Injury ,
Restitution ,
Risk Assessment ,
Risk Management ,
Securities Fraud ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
State Attorneys General
In a move that will have a significant impact on Pennsylvania's power producers, Governor Tom Wolf signed an executive order on October 3rd directing the state's Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) to create...more
10/10/2019
/ Cap-and-Trade ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Clean Energy ,
Climate Change ,
Coal ,
Coal Industry ,
Department of Environmental Protection ,
Executive Orders ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Governor Wolf ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Natural Gas ,
Power Plants ,
RGGI ,
State and Local Government ,
Tom Wolf
The US District Court for the District of Columbia has blocked the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from issuing new oil and gas drilling permits on approximately 300,000 acres of federal land in Wyoming until it adequately...more
4/2/2019
/ Bureau of Land Management ,
Climate Change ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Assessments ,
Environmental Impact Report (EIR) ,
Environmental Violations ,
Federal Land ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Land Developers ,
Land-Use Permits ,
Mineral Leases ,
NEPA ,
Oil & Gas ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Trial Court Orders ,
Trump Administration ,
Well Drilling