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Tag Archives: Stuart Kaplow

Supreme Court Rules Against EPA Reining in Power of Agencies

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Climate Change, Federal, GHG, greenhouse gas
Save the date, Tuesday, August 16 from 9 to 10 am EST, for our complimentary live webinar, “Are You Ready to Measure and Report your Building GHG Emissions?” Information skaplow@stuartkaplow.com In a decision that will rein in agency power across the federal government, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that Congress did not clearly authorize … Continue Reading

Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act to be Enforced June 21

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Codes and Regulations, ESG, Federal, Solar Panel
Congress passed, and on December 23, 2021 President Biden signed into law, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. The new law that will be enforced beginning June 21, 2022 has implications for imported cotton and tomatoes and most significantly for solar panels. The Act, codified at 22 U.S.C. §6901, establishes a rebuttable presumption that any … Continue Reading

Glossary of Greenhouse Gas Terms

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Climate Change, GHG, greenhouse gas
With proposed federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions by the Securities and Exchange Commission requiring GHG disclosure and new state statutes, including a new Maryland law that requires not only disclosure, but also a mandated reduction in GHG emissions, a greater appreciation of the subject of GHG appears in order. This short glossary is an … Continue Reading

SEC Charges Mining Company with Misleading Investors in its ESG Disclosures

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Codes and Regulations, ESG
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

SEC Extends Comment Period for Proposed Rules on ESG Related Disclosures

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in ESG, GHG, Sustainability
The Securities and Exchange Commission has extended the public comment period on the proposed rulemaking to enhance and standardize climate related disclosures until June 17, 2022. As a regulation that has been described as a single act that “will change the way business and the economy function,” the ramifications of a short “notice and comment” … Continue Reading

You Should Comment on the SEC’s Transformative Proposed ESG Rule

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Codes and Regulations, Federal, GHG
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

Ukraine is Now a Real ESG Issue

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in ESG, Sustainability
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

Zero Waste in an Era of Net Zero Everything

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in ESG, LEED
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 ESG Benefit of Paying Employees to Work at the Polls

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in ESG, Solar Panel, Sustainability
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

The UK Sets the Scene for Mandatory ESG Laws in the Western World

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Climate Change, Codes and Regulations, ESG
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

ESG is an Opportunity for Commercial Landlords

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Climate Change, ESG, Green Building, Green Globes, LEED
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

FTC Regulates What You can Say about Your Solar Panels

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in ESG, Solar Panel, Sustainability, wind turbine
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

ESG Often Led by Renewable Energy

By Stuart Kaplow on Posted in Energy, ESG, Solar Panel
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
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