Sitting with the C-Suite: Capital - The Source of Challenges and Opportunities
Sitting with the C-Suite: How to Determine Where to Put Your Business's Capital Investments
Viewpoints: Portfolio Company Pension Liabilities
In the current political and business environment, companies are taking action to address a range of environmental and social issues. Corporate attitudes have changed since the late 2010s, when environmental, social, and...more
According to an annual report published on October 18, 2023, members of the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA) have stepped up their commitments by setting new intermediate targets in four key areas, i.e., sub-portfolio...more
On October 2, 2023, the EU markets regulator, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), published a study indicating that the proportion of investment funds in Europe using ESG-related terms in their fund names...more
On September 18, 2023, following a two-year development process, the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) published its final recommendations (the Recommendations) to help market participants with...more
According to a survey conducted by KPMG, 75% of companies are not in a position to obtain third-party assurance on their published ESG data. This is despite the fact that two-thirds of companies must disclose such data, or...more
On September 7, 2023, Allianz SE unveiled its first net-zero transition plan for its core business segments, featuring 2030 intermediate targets to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. The Munich-based insurance firm’s...more
On May 15, 2023, twenty-three Republican state attorneys general (AGs) sent a letter to members of the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA) expressing “serious concerns” about whether the NZIA’s requirements comply with federal...more
A recent study by Bain & Company and sustainability ratings provider EcoVadis “examined how various aspects of sustainability and ESG activities—things like setting ESG targets, tracking results, embedding sustainability into...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
Senior finance officials from 18 states, as well as hundreds of investors, public and private companies and climate-focused nonprofits, joined together to urge policymakers to reject efforts by certain, primarily Republican...more
On March 23, the British Standards Institution (BSI), the UK National Standards Body, announced the launch of a three-year Nature Investment Standards Programme and related consultation, which aims to stimulate private sector...more
On February 13, 2023, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) announced his support for what his office described as “comprehensive legislation to protect Floridians from the woke environmental, social, and corporate governance...more
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) is frequently covered in the news – especially given the growing attention paid by investors and stakeholders to how businesses operate. More and more, investors use ESG reports to...more
Sustainable investing is a big and growing business. It is also widely misunderstood. Many of the predominant investment tools used to assess public company environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices have been...more
For many companies, summer is the time when they prepare and publish Sustainability Reports, which report on efforts with respect to environmental, social, and governance initiatives. Other companies may have already...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) is meeting this Monday, March 21, to determine whether to propose amendments to existing law to “enhance and standardize registrants’ climate-related disclosures.” The SEC’s...more
On February 8, 2022, the Chamber of Deputies approved a proposed law ("Constitutional Reform" or "Reform") to include environmental, health and animal protection among the fundamental principles of the Italian Constitution,...more
If 2021 was the year in which regulators and investors enthusiastically embraced environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) considerations, by creating new legal and regulatory frameworks, then 2022 will be the year for...more
The focus on ESG across the business spectrum ramped up over the course of 2021, surpassing several milestones along the way and resulting in a surge of regulatory changes and new initiatives by the end of the year....more
This practice note discusses market trends in 2021 relating to disclosures of climate change risks and mitigation by public companies, which are intertwined with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. It also...more
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
Climate change has long been an area of focus for investors. Over the past several months, companies have come under greater scrutiny and have begun to face increased pressure from investors, regulators, activists, and the...more
On September 22, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance issued a sample comment letter (the “Comment Letter”) regarding climate change disclosures. While the SEC has yet to issue its promised climate change disclosure...more
In a comment letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 11, seven well-known tech companies responded to SEC Acting Chair Allison Herren Lee’s March 2021 request for public input on climate change disclosures. ...more
The environmental, social, and governance (ESG) landscape is being shaped by the establishment of various ESG standards and frameworks (summarized and compared herein), many of which have been adopted on a voluntary basis by...more