There are more than 3 Million houses in the U.S. with solar panels installed on the roof. The Inflation Protection Act of 2022 extended the 30% federal tax credit for residential solar panels through 2034 which is predicted to more than triple that number of solar installations. And as those houses are each year … Continue Reading
Whilst much of the popular media is all but obsessed with the March 21, 2022, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposed ESG Rules to Enhance and Standardize Climate-Related Disclosures that will among other matters require companies for the first time to disclose greenhouse gas emission data, we continue to work with companies in complying with … Continue Reading
Last month, the California Secretary of State appealed the decision by a California Superior Court striking down as unconstitutional California’s board diversity law, which required all publicly traded companies headquartered in the State to include a minimum number of female directors. In 2018, Women on Boards (Senate Bill 826) was signed into law to advance … Continue Reading
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to designate two of the most widely used per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known as the “Superfund” law. The proposal applies to perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), including their salts and structural isomers, actually, a group of … Continue Reading
We have blogged repeatedly that “the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labor” is a key element, if not singularly the most important principle of a business’s practices. That point was driven home with the release last Wednesday, by The United Nations Human Rights Office assessment of human rights concerns in China’s Xinjiang … Continue Reading
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 has been much talked about in the 14 days since it was signed by President Biden, but little has been said about the provisions that modified the 179D energy efficient commercial buildings federal tax deduction making it bigger and better. Section 13303 of HR 5376 – The Inflation Reduction … Continue Reading
It is hugely significant that the Phase l Environmental Site Assessment standard is in limbo because that assessment is conducted in the vast majority of the 5.6 million commercial real estate transactions each year in the United States (i.e., including for a real estate purchaser to avoid liability under the Superfund law). The U.S. Environmental … Continue Reading
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last month charged Vale S.A., a publicly traded Brazilian mining company and one of the world’s largest iron ore producers, with making false and misleading claims about the safety of the Brumadinho dam including through its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosures. According to the SEC’s complaint, for years, … Continue Reading
With the federal government and state of Maryland each having announced within days of each other, the mandated disclosure of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, we have received, maybe not surprising, many calls in the last two weeks inquiring “what are GHGs?” and “what are Scope 3 GHG emissions (.. which are proposed to be a … Continue Reading
Note, after this was posted, the SEC extended the public comment period on the proposed rulemaking to enhance and standardize climate related disclosures from the originally scheduled close date of May 20, 2022 until June 17, 2022. We posted some weeks ago when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued a long awaited proposed new … Continue Reading
With legislation that became law last week, without the Governor’s signature, Maryland has enacted the most rigorous state law in the country reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and otherwise addressing ESG stewardship including climate change. Businesses can and should treat this as the greatest opportunity and responsibility of our time. Literally resetting the trajectory of … Continue Reading
Last Monday the NFL announced at the owners meeting that it had approved adjustments to the Rooney Rule, first adopted in 2003, “to enhance opportunities for people of color and women for nearly all league and team jobs.” As companies, most that are far afield from the NFL, look to have a positive impact on … Continue Reading
Last Monday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission voted 3 to 1 to issue a long awaited proposed new rule to mandate climate risk disclosures by public companies and other businesses in their supply chains. The 510 page proposed rule will require public companies to include climate related disclosures in their registration statements and periodic … Continue Reading
Slavery exists today. The British government recently reported there are more enslaved people today than there have been at any time in history! And if you doubt that modern slavery is here and now, 20 days ago, on March 1st, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized four shipments of palm oil at the port … Continue Reading
ESG law is emergent and fast evolving such that today, the best sources are blogs and Twitter, not bound statutes and printed law reviews. Last week U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler Tweeted about the future of ESG regulation. You do not need to be a futurist to know that SEC regulation of … Continue Reading
While there has been near universal condemnation of the war against Ukraine by Russia, and our empathy is unequivocally with the people of Ukraine, this invasion of a sovereign nation, something that echoes the darkest days in European history, today presents issues of ESG. This blog post is being written 9 days after Putin’s war … Continue Reading
Despite that the Zero Waste movement peaked in about 1998, in the modern context of Net Zero from Net Zero Energy to Net Zero Carbon, we are today with surprising frequency asked about a business being able to claim it is Zero Waste. In a widely accepted definition, Zero Waste is, The conservation of all … Continue Reading
The “S” in ESG is among the most impactful sustainability factors despite being among the least measured. There are a myriad of Social factors in sustainability, but what they have in common is they are about “social relationships.” A company’s relationship with its employees is key, but so is its relationship with the community and … Continue Reading
As we in the U.S. await action by the federal government on mandatory ESG laws, the United Kingdom has become the first European Union country to enact mandatory ESG disclosure laws. These new reporting requirements are of import beyond the shores of Great Britain in that they portend what government mandates are to come across … Continue Reading
At first blush the California Climate Corporate Accountability Act requires only a small number of the nation’s biggest corporations generating more than $1 Billion in annual revenue to report their greenhouse gas emissions, but a thoughtful consideration makes clear that if enacted SB 260 will require carbon reporting by thousands if not tens of thousands … Continue Reading
Clothing is worn by almost everyone, almost all of the time. Across the globe, the $1.3 Trillion clothing industry employs more than 300 million people. Over the last 15 years, clothing production worldwide more than doubled and during that period people bought 60% more garments than before but kept them, on average, only half as … Continue Reading
A business that generates renewable energy, say, with solar panels, but sells the Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) for that renewable energy may not then claim it “uses” renewable energy. The Federal Trade Commissions has prescribed that such would be deceptive. That guidance from the FTC is not new, but as both onsite and offsite renewable … Continue Reading
Businesses often ask about including green power in ESG efforts. We suggest rephrasing the query such that it is about using renewable energy to reduce the environmental harms associated with fossil fuel energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase the supply of renewable energy and foster a just transition to an ESG driven economy. Businesses do … Continue Reading
ESG will be the environmental issue of the year, if not also among the biggest business issues of the year. ESG is everywhere. And yes, this is with appreciation that environmental is only the E in ESG. This is more than a Magic 8 Ball prediction, although we do regularly consult one of the 1960s … Continue Reading