The New Cold War: Risk, Sanctions, Compliance Episode 24: “Elephants and the Mafia: Combatting Criminal Wildlife Trafficking”
In recent years, environmental nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and local governments have increasingly sued gas, oil, and energy companies, challenging their historic messaging on climate change, plastic recycling, and...more
Just as the European institutions adopted a Stop The Clock before a deep dive on Omnibus provisions, a coalition of NGOs filed a formal complaint on April 18, 2025, with the European Ombudsman. They claim the European...more
President Donald Trump’s second term has already proven to be an extension of his first-term deregulatory agenda at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Given historical trends, such deregulation will likely prompt...more
In the quest for a sustainable future, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent goalposts, albeit lofty ones, that countries can aim for. These 17 interconnected goals address pressing global...more
I was sad to see the Law 360 report that a coalition of environmental and human rights NGOs have petitioned President Biden to pardon former attorney Steven Donzinger who was jailed for criminal contempt of court in 2021,...more
On April 9, 2024, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (the “Court) handed down its unappealable judgment in a landmark climate case. Although directed at the Swiss government, the judgment extends to all...more
COP28 - December 6, 2023 Recap - Today’s COP28 theme – Multilevel Action, Urbanization and Built Environment/Transport – saw the hosting of a Ministerial Meeting on Urbanization and Climate Change and the release of the...more
A recent Supreme Court of the State of Hawaii decision permitted climate-related claims against major petroleum and gas companies to proceed toward trial. The decision in City and County of Honolulu v. Sunoco LP allows...more
Law 360 is reporting this morning on an NGO petition to the Army Corps of Engineers demanding that it not apply a Nationwide Permit covering the construction of "pipelines that transport water, sewage, and ‘other substances’”...more
Posted on April 14, 2023 by Scott Fulton One of my roles as ELI’s International Envoy is serving on the Steering Committee of the new Climate Crisis Commission established by the International Union for the Conservation of...more
On March 8, 2023, 25 organizations wrote to the European Commission concerning its treatment of agriculture in the forthcoming Taxonomy Delegated Act, urging them to follow the advice published by their own expert group. The...more
What will happen in the environmental and energy space in 2023? The last year saw transformative changes in the environmental and energy space in the form of historic spending through the federal Inflation Reduction Act, a...more
Former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Allison Herren Lee gave an incredibly insightful keynote address at the 2021 Society for Corporate Governance National Conference and spoke to the expanding...more
On 15 March 2022, ClientEarth announced that it had written to Shell's board of directors informing them of its intent to bring a claim on behalf of the company for the board's failure to implement a Paris Agreement compliant...more
Last week, AIG significantly restricted its underwriting of and investment in fossil fuel projects. Specifically, it announced the following actions: With immediate effect, committed to no longer invest in or provide...more
On 2 and 3 September 2021, activists from Greenpeace, Fridays for Future and the German NGO Deutsche Umwelthilfe sent pre-action letters to three major German car manufacturers and Germany's largest oil & gas producer...more
On May 26, 2021, the Hague District Court ordered, in a groundbreaking decision, Royal Dutch Shell Plc to ensure that the aggregate annual volume of all carbon dioxide emissions of the Shell group, its suppliers, and...more
Kilpatrick Townsend Partner Todd Roessler recently spoke with other industry leaders David Golden, Former Senior Vice President, Chief Legal & Sustainability Officer, and Corporate Secretary of Eastman Chemical Company and...more
While the technical feasibility of a decarbonised economy essentially based on renewable energies is taking shape, the French Republic has just been found liable for environmental harm in relation to climate change by the...more
An increasing number of lawsuits relating to climate change are being filed with courts all around the world. But there is another avenue for pursuing grievances related to climate change that has been relatively unexplored...more