This guide discusses important themes from the 2024 proxy season and developing trends we are monitoring for 2025. It also includes a “housekeeping checklist” designed to assist you as you prepare your proxy statement. For...more
Teneo Insights recently published its fourth annual “State of U.S. Sustainability Reports,” which analyzes 250 sustainability reports from S&P 500 companies published this year through July 30, seeking to understand how...more
Pressure from consumers, investors, and regulators to provide climate, environmental, and sustainability disclosures is increasing, but it is important for companies to ensure such disclosures are accurate, verifiable, and...more
In 2023, when California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law two bills related to climate disclosure—Senate Bill 253, the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, and SB 261, Greenhouse gases: climate-related financial...more
Despite the sense of relief that many companies initially felt with the SEC’s stay of its climate disclosure rules, the pause is unlikely to temper the forces demanding climate disclosures by other means. In the latest paper...more
In today’s interconnected global regulatory landscape, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors are for organizations worldwide. While the European Union (EU) has always been a trailblazer in this arena, it is...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted its long-awaited climate disclosure rules on March 6, 2024. (For more information, see our recent Cooley client alert, webinar and resource page.) The final rules require...more
On March 6, 2024, the SEC announced its long-awaited adoption of final rules regarding climate-related disclosures by public companies and in public offerings (the “Climate Rules”). The SEC dialed back the more prescriptive...more
On March 6, 2024, two years after the issuance of a proposing release and following more than 24,000 comment letters and 4,500 unique letters submitted in response, by a vote of 3-2, the U.S. Securities and Exchange...more
On March 21, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed expansive and controversial climate disclosure rules. Two years and 24,000 comment letters later, on March 6, 2024, the SEC voted 3-2 to adopt its...more
On March 6, 2024, in a 3-2 vote along party lines, the SEC adopted the long-awaited final rules on climate-related disclosures. The proposed rules faced intense public scrutiny over the last two years, with the SEC receiving...more
On March 6,2024, in a 3-2 vote, the US Securities and Exchange Commission adopted final rules requiring registrants to disclose certain climate-related information in registration statements and annual reports....more
Following a nearly two-year wait, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) released its Final Rule—The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors—on March 6, 2024. The...more
On March 6, 2024, in a 3-2 vote, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted final rules requiring registrants to disclose certain climate-related information in registration statements and annual reports. ...more
On March 6, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted climate disclosure rules which will require registrants to disclose detailed new climate-related disclosures in annual reports and registration...more
On December 19, 2023, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (“ISS”) released its updates to its Proxy Voting Guidelines. Somewhat unusually, ISS made only one change to its voting recommendation policies for U.S. public...more
2023 saw terms like “ESG,” “greenwashing,” and “circular economy” come into common use. We also saw a tsunami of other environmental, social, and governance (ESG)-related developments at the international, federal, and state...more
On October 7, 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 253 into law, which imposes climate-related disclosure requirements for companies with revenues over $1 billion annually that do business in California. On the same...more
California Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed into law two core bills of the state's “Climate Accountability Package, Senate Bill 253 (SB 253) and Senate Bill 261 (SB 261). As they currently stand, these laws impose...more
On October 7, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed two new climate reporting bills into law: Senate Bill (SB) 261, Greenhouse gases: climate-related financial risk and SB 253, the Climate Corporate Data...more
In the October edition of our Public Company Watch, we cover key issues impacting public companies, including the SEC adopting rules modernizing beneficial ownership reporting and short sale reporting, and issuing new C&DIs...more
On October 7, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law two expansive climate disclosure bills (SB 253 and SB 261), making California the first state in the U.S. to impose requirements on greenhouse gas (“GHG”)...more
Welcome to Vinson & Elkins’ Securities and ESG Updates. Our aim is to provide insights into notable developments in securities reporting and the environmental, social and governance space over the quarter and, where...more
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law two watershed climate bills on October 7, 2023 that will require companies with significant revenue to make climate-related disclosures starting in 2026. The stated purpose of...more
California is poised to become the first state to require large companies to disclose greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from direct operations, supply chains and employees and report on climate-related financial risk and any...more