ESG

Subscribe to ESG via RSS

The Trump Administration has already signaled its intent to take a far different approach with respect to ESG-related issues than the Biden administration. Among other things, the White House has issued orders ordering a dismantling of federal agency DEI initiatives, and the SEC has withdrawn its court defense of its recently issued Climate Change Disclosure guidelines. These actions suggest that other governmental authorities’ climate change-related initiatives – such as those of the EU and of the various U.S. states — could increase in importance, as the U.S. federal government changes its policy direction. However, the EU has recently indicated its intent to step back some of its initiatives. And the Trump Administration has now issued an executive order expressly targeting what it calls “state overreach” with respect to climate change policies.Continue Reading Executive Order Targets State Climate Change-Related Initiatives

In prior posts (most recently here), I have noted the ways the new Trump administration’s policies and actions could affect the D&O liability and insurance arena. In the current rapid-fire environment, with daily developments that threaten to overturn established practices and norms, just trying to keep up – much less understand the significance of events – can be a challenge. In an effort to try to keep the scoreboard up to date, I have noted below some of the most recent key developments and tried to describe their significance for the D&O environment.Continue Reading Trump 2.0: The Latest D&O Update

In my recent post discussing Trump administration changes affecting the world of D&O, I noted recent developments suggesting that the SEC seems poised to either withdraw or non-enforce the agency’s Climate Change Disclosure Guidelines, which, as discussed here, were finalized in March 2024. However, as I also noted, even if the guidelines are withdrawn, many U.S. companies could still remain subject to ESG reporting requirements under the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).

Now, apparently reflecting a desire among EU member states for their economies to be more competitive in the global business environment, the European Commission has proposed an “Omnibus package” of proposed revisions to streamline a number of EU laws, including the CSRD. As discussed below, the proposed revisions could significantly reduce the number of U.S. companies, and the number of companies overall, obliged to report under the CSRD.Continue Reading Proposed EU ESG Reporting Changes Could Spare Many U.S. Companies

The directors’ and officers’ liability environment is always changing, but 2024 was a particularly eventful year, with important consequences for the D&O insurance marketplace. The past year’s many developments also have significant implications for what may lie ahead in 2025 – and possibly for years to come.  I have set out below the Top Ten D&O Stories of 2024, with a focus on future implications. Please note that on Wednesday, January 15, 2025 at 11:00 AM EST, my colleagues Marissa Streckfus, Chris Bertola, and I will be conducting a free, hour-long webinar in which we will discuss The Top Ten D&O Stories of 2024. Registration for the webinar can be found here. I hope you can join us for the webinar.Continue Reading The Top Ten D&O Stories of 2024

Umesh Pratapa

In the following guest post, Umesh Pratapa takes a look at environmental liability risks under Indian law and consider the D&O insurance implications. Umesh is the Author of the handbook on D&O liability insurance published by Institute of Directors (IOD), India, and Consultant – liability insurance. I would like to thank Umesh for allowing me to publish his article on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to the site’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Umesh’s article.

*************************************Continue Reading Guest Post: India: Environmental Litigation Risks – D&O Liability Insurance

As often happens when companies are hit with securities class action lawsuits, Lululemon, which in August was sued in a securities suit, was hit with a parallel shareholder derivative lawsuit. The derivative suit allegations not only largely track the allegations in the prior securities suit, but the derivative suit complaint expressly refers to the prior securities lawsuit filings. However, there is an unusual twist. In addition to tracking the same allegations as the securities suit, the Lululemon derivative suit complaint contains an entirely new and different set of allegations – and the new set of allegations are interesting in their own right.

The new allegations relate to the Lululemon’s DEI program (or what Lululemon called its IDEA program, standing for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Action). DEI programs have been the recent focus of attention, with, for example, some companies facing litigation for even having a DEA program, and other companies (such as Ford and Harley-Davidson) having to publicly back away from their DEI program in response to political pressure. The allegations in the new Lululemon derivative complaint do not seek to challenge the company for having adopted this kind of program; the allegations instead question the company’s actions for doing too little to combat discrimination and eliminate racial issues at the company. In the context of a changing environment surrounding ESG issues in general, and DEI issues in particular, the new Lululemon lawsuit represents an interesting development, as discussed below. The derivative complaint in the new lawsuit can be found here.Continue Reading Lululemon Hit with Derivative Suit for Allegedly Ineffective DEI Program

Some of you may have heard: there was a Presidential election in the United States last Tuesday, as a result of which there will be a change in administration next January. This upcoming change almost certainly means a categorical shift in the regulatory environment in Washington, including in particular at the SEC. Many of the SEC’s regulatory initiatives under the Biden administration may be rolled back. In particular, the new administration likely will pull the plug on the SEC’s pending climate change disclosure guidelines. These likely developments at the federal level may mean that, as Cydney Posner noted in a November 7, 2024, post on the Cooley law firm’s PubCo blog (here), State level actions “may, in many ways, take on much larger significance.”

For that reason, it is worth taking a closer look at the ruling last week in the federal court lawsuit in which various business groups led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are challenging the California statutes requiring companies “doing business” in the state to make certain climate change-related disclosures. As discussed below, the Court has denied the plaintiffs’ pre-discovery motion for summary judgment on First Amendment grounds. The court’s interesting ruling may provide some indication of the future direction of the litigation, as well as on the likelihood that the California statutes will eventually compel companies to make the mandated disclosures. A copy of the Central District of California’s November 5, 2024, order can be found here.Continue Reading What Now for Climate Change Disclosure Requirements?

In March 2021, to great fanfare, the SEC announced its formation of a Climate and ESG Task Force to “develop initiatives to proactively identify ESG-related misconduct,” as well as to “coordinate the effective use of Division resources, including through the use of sophisticated data analysis to mine and assess information across registrants, to identify potential violations.” Now, it turns out that, much more quietly, the agency has disbanded the Task Force. As first reported in a September 12, 2024, Bloomberg article (here), the SEC shut down the Task Force “within the past few months.”Continue Reading SEC Disbands Climate and ESG Task Force

In recent months, many companies have found themselves under fire from conservative advocates for their stances on ESG-related issues. At the same time, other companies have found themselves facing litigation based on allegations that they have overstated their green credentials (a set of allegations sometimes called “greenwashing”). As two recent cases show, companies can face challenges and potential liability over their sustainability claims.Continue Reading Beverage Companies Face Scrutiny Over Their Green Claims