As we previously reported in October 2023, the California legislature adopted three significant climate disclosure laws...more
In October 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law the Climate Corporate Accountability Act (SB 253) and the Climate‐Related Financial Risk Act (SB 261), jointly referred to as the Climate Accountability...more
With the 2023 annual report season upon us, it is time for companies to take stock of risk factors for 10-Ks and 20-Fs, and consider whether recent economic, political, technological, and regulatory developments have had (or...more
Expansive requirements will apply to large public and private companies doing business in California and indirectly impact businesses in their value chain - On October 7, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed two...more
As businesses across the globe strive to fulfill carbon-neutral and net-zero promises over the coming decades, the voluntary carbon market has emerged as a necessary resource to help businesses bridge the gap to...more
The forthcoming guidelines will set supervisory expectations to steer financial institutions’ transition planning processes to facilitate decarbonisation efforts by their clients. On 8 June 2023, the Monetary Authority...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) has adopted amendments and updated disclosure requirements that are to be included in a reporting company’s annual report on Form 10-K or 20-F. The SEC has also proposed...more
The Annual Report season will soon be upon us, and it is important to assess a company's risk factors at the outset and whether recent developments, including those relating to macroeconomic, geopolitical, and public health...more
New High Court case considers nature and scope of the Quincecare duty - In June, the Court of Appeal expanded the scope of a bank’s duty of care to protect its customers from fraud to encompass instructions by those other...more
Today marks the 52nd Earth Day celebration, initially commenced in 1970 as citizens around the nation, and the world, gathered to demand stronger protection for the environment: cleaner water, air and land. As in 1970, the...more
On December 2, Larry Levin and Alyse Sagalchik, partners in Katten's Capital Markets practice, along with Ernst & Young LLP and Meridian Compensation Partners (Meridian), shared updates for the 2022 proxy season as part of...more
The insurance industry was front and center before, during and after the first days of the United Nations’ (UN) climate change summit, Conference of the Parties (COP26), in Glasgow, Scotland, which concluded earlier this...more
On November 3, 2021, the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) announced the creation of a new Climate Risk Division (the Division) that is tasked with integrating climate risks into DFS’s supervision of regulated...more
Environmental, social, and governance factors (“ESG”) have pushed to the forefront of the SEC’s attention in recent years. In September, building on prior guidance, the SEC’s Division of Corporate Finance released a sample...more
The Financial Stability Oversight Council (“FSOC”) issued a document on October 21st titled: Report on Climate-Related Financial Risk 2021 (“Report”) The Report was issued in response to the Biden Administration’s Executive...more
A wide-ranging report encourages regulators to take a concerted approach to combat climate-related risks to the US financial system. On October 21, 2021, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) published a...more
In the few short weeks since our last report on climate change and the US insurance industry, the volume of climate change news has been extraordinarily high. The range of developments has been broad to say the very...more
Climate risk is investment risk. So says BlackRock. And when you manage $8.7 trillion, people tend to listen to what you say. I’ve been noting for some time that BlackRock’s statements seemed to presage increasing...more
At the beginning of the year, we published a short report on the surge in year-end insurance regulatory activity concerning climate change risks (available here). January was another busy month, and we report below on...more
There has been a marked increase in public announcements from regulators in recent months, both in the United States and internationally, relating to climate change and about embedding consideration of climate change-related...more
By a 3-2 vote, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has adopted amendments designed to modernize the disclosure requirements involving description of business (Item 101), legal proceedings (Item 103), and risk...more
Wildfires pose an increasingly serious threat to the public and environment in California. So it should be no surprise that the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) amended Appendix G of California Environmental...more