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Nov 20 2024 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #investors
The New Future of Greenwashing Enforcement
The question of where the SEC stands on ESG has been difficult to answer. Back in September, the SEC quietly dissolved their ESG taskforce, leaving many to wonder if ESG enforcement was no longer a priority at the agency. Despite...
Nov 20 2024 #climate, #environment, #esg, #investors, #social
Ford Drives B2B Sustainability Gains
Cue the automotive and EV puns… Last month, I wrote about differences between sustainability value propositions for B2B and B2C relationships. Trellis (formerly GreenBiz) recently provided an example of these differences and pivoting strategies. According to the article: “In September,...
Nov 20 2024 #assurance, #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #investors, #social, #supply-chain
It Was a Big Week for Climate Disclosure News
Last week saw several important reports published about climate disclosures, most likely timed for COP29: The 2024 EY Global Climate Action Barometer. Among its key findings – “While most of the companies are aware of the physical risks they face...
Nov 19 2024 #climate, #compliance, #diversity, #environment, #equity, #esg, #human-rights, #investors, #social, #supply-chain
Accidental Disclosure: A Real Risk for ESG/Sustainability
Last week, Matt Levine told a story about how far some investors will go (legally) to find hidden information about a company and what is behind numbers companies publish. Investors, he said, seek “that sweet spot of information that is...
Nov 19 2024 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #investors, #social, #supply-chain
Don’t Say You Aren’t Doing ESG But Don’t Say You Are. Are We Clear?
As long as we’re on Matt Levine’s commentary on disclosures… I feel like we are getting into multiples of double negatives which isn’t helpful. Last week, Levine also offered up a view on how the SEC’s Invesco enforcement case could...
Nov 19 2024 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #investors, #supply-chain
Seminal Dutch Shell Case Overturned
In 2021, a landmark case was decided in the Netherlands holding that Shell plc (formerly Royal Dutch Shell plc) owed a duty of care under Dutch tort law to reduce its CO2 emissions by 45% by 2030 compared to 2019...
Nov 14 2024 #diversity, #equity, #esg, #investors, #social
Oh Deere Redux: John Deere Fights DEI Shareholder Proposal
This summer, John Deere sent shockwaves through the ESG world by axing it’s DEI programs due to a public pressure campaign waged on social media. However, in responding to one stakeholder, others felt jilted, including activist fund “As You Sow”-...
Nov 14 2024 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #investors, #supply-chain
New This Week on PracticalESG.com
This week’s notable additions and new resources for members: New Q&A: How do you find out which ESG disclosure frameworks shareholders prefer? New Guidebook: Generic Climate Change Sample Disclosure – A framework and jurisdiction-agnostic sample climate disclosure covering governance, GHG...
Nov 14 2024 #assurance, #climate, #compliance, #diversity, #environment, #equity, #esg, #human-rights, #investors, #social, #supply-chain
Sustainability Budget Tightening or Uncertain? How We Can Help
Facing a smaller ESG/sustainability budget while having to manage more than ever? Under pressure to show the ROI on program expenses? Need to efficiently draft ESG/sustainability disclosures for your company or clients? Looking to reduce the time you spend searching...
Nov 13 2024 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #investors
EFRAG Gives First Look at Non-EU Parent Company Disclosure Standards
The EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is a massive piece of disclosure legislation that sustainability professionals are struggling to wrap their heads around. Even as we work to understand and comply with the current European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS),...
Nov 13 2024 #compliance, #esg, #investors
SEC’s Newest ESG Enforcement Includes $17.5 Million Fine
The dominoes are falling. The SEC issued their latest enforcement action against an investment advisor for not living up to its marketing and explicit commitments to ESG investment strategies. Last week, the SEC charged Atlanta-based charged Invesco Advisers, Inc. with...
Nov 13 2024 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #supply-chain
UN-Backed Carbon Offset Framework Approved at COP29
COP29 in Azerbaijan is off to quite a start. According to remarks from Yalchin Rafiyev, COP29 Lead Negotiator: “Parties reached consensus on the standards for Article 6.4 and a dynamic mechanism to update them… This will be a game-changing tool...
Nov 12 2024 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #investors, #supply-chain
California Climate Disclosure Laws Survive Early Court Hurdle
Washington D.C. will face drastic change in January. The SEC’s Climate-related Disclosure Rules already had an uphill battle in the 8th Circuit and the changing political regime all but guarantees its demise. However, that doesn’t mean its time to stop...
Nov 12 2024 #climate, #compliance, #diversity, #environment, #equity, #esg, #human-rights, #investors, #social, #supply-chain
ESG/Sustainability Professionals – Just Ignore the Election Results
I intentionally waited to publish this blog, even though I wrote it the morning after the US presidential election results were announced. There were enough immediate articles, news items and posts lamenting the results and wringing hands about the future...
Nov 12 2024 #climate, #environment, #esg, #supply-chain
Bees Sting Meta’s AI Climate Plans
There’s something of an irony here. According to Financial Times last week, Meta’s plans to “build an AI data centre in the US that runs on nuclear power were thwarted in part because a rare species of bee was discovered...
Nov 7 2024 #compliance, #esg, #investors
SEC Issues Risk Alert for Investment Companies, Includes ESG
Last month, I wrote about the SEC’s latest Exam Priorities for investment advisors and companies, broker-dealers, and a few other “market participants.” This includes registered investment companies (RICs), which consists of mutual funds and exchange-traded funds. In that blog, I...
Nov 7 2024 #climate, #environment, #esg, #social, #supply-chain
Sustainability Goals No Reason to Be Tone Deaf to the Market
I’m a car guy – I love the art and engineering in automobiles and even turn wrenches on mine (replete with busted knuckles, yelling and cursing). I’m not anti-EV by any means – I leased a 100% EV from 2015-2018...
Nov 7 2024 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #human-rights, #investors, #social, #supply-chain
New This Week on PracticalESG.com
This week’s notable additions and new resources for members: New Q&As: Lawrence provides insight into the future of emissions disclosures if the SEC’s Climate-Related Disclosures Rule is overturned. John clarifies specifics on the timing of GHG disclosures in company 10-Qs....
Nov 6 2024 #assurance, #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #human-rights, #investors, #social, #supply-chain
Political Pressure Building in EU to Scale Back CSRD
The EU is arguably the world leader in sustainability legislation with the European Green Deal being at the forefront of global ESG regulations. However, passing and implementing environmental policy has not come without a political cost. This summer, right-wing candidates...
Nov 6 2024 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #supply-chain
New Insurance Available for Carbon Offset Fraud
It’s an interesting time for insurance in the voluntary carbon market (VCM). Yesterday, I wrote about concerns with VCM buffer pools, which act as a type of insurance for VCM buyers and project developers; last week, I blogged on considerations...
Nov 6 2024 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #investors, #supply-chain
Is an Alternative to Voluntary Offsets Coming?
Since we’re on the topic of offsets… It’s been a tough couple years for voluntary GHG offsets, what with claims of fraud, turmoil in market players and the rise in greenwashing claims. Even so, advocates argue that doing something about...
Nov 5 2024 #climate, #compliance, #diversity, #environment, #equity, #esg, #human-rights, #investors, #social, #supply-chain
CSOs Need to Improve Their Credibility With CFOs
A new report from EY How can CFOs be confident in value creation without confidence in reporting? offers interesting perspectives based on new survey data. CFOs are doing more than they ever have – moving from purely managing numbers to...
Nov 5 2024 #assurance, #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #supply-chain
More Offset Controversy – This Time, It’s Buffer Pools
The old saying goes “the only inevitable things are death and taxes.” These days, we should add “voluntary carbon offset controversy.” A new existential problem with the voluntary carbon market (VCM) rears up almost monthly. Bloomberg reported on a particularly...
Nov 5 2024 #climate, #compliance, #diversity, #environment, #equity, #esg, #investors, #social
Hidden Benefits of Materiality Assessments
Materiality assessments are at the center of many disclosure frameworks. These serve the obvious purpose of setting out the topics to be covered in company disclosures, but they may also have hidden benefits. A recent article in ESG Today discusses...
Oct 31 2024 #assurance, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #human-rights, #investors, #social
The Bizarre Tale Of A VW Social Audit
Thanks to Andrew Britton for the heads up on this article in his newsletter. Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine published a fascinating piece (in English) about a social audit of VW’s operations in operations in Xinjiang, China. A bit of background...
Oct 31 2024 #climate, #environment
New Chemistry Innovation Could Make DAC A Reality
Many scientists believe that in order to make meaningful progress in slowing climate change, we must remove excess CO2 out of the ambient air. There are a few (massive and expensive) projects that purport to do just that. This technology...
Oct 31 2024 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #investors, #social, #supply-chain
New This Week on PracticalESG.com
PracticalESG.com is widely known for our blogs, but that is only a small part of what we do. We provide credible, up-to-date information exclusively focused on practicality and usefulness to ESG/sustainability professionals (in-house staff, external advisors and legal counsel) in...
Oct 30 2024 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #investors
Are Hypothetical Climate Risks Really Hypothetical in SEC’s Eyes?
When Meredith and I were drafting our sample disclosure based on the final SEC rules (members can access that here), she brought up an interesting point about physical risks – business exposures (e.g., property damage or loss) resulting from weather...
Oct 30 2024 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #investors
Trial Begins in Santos Shareholder Greenwashing Suit
Greenwashing suits are becoming more commonplace as consumers and regulators hold companies’ feet to the fire on sustainability claims. In Australia, a greenwashing case against energy company Santos is headed to trial and shareholders are behind the litigation. We don’t...
Oct 30 2024 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg
ADM’s Carbon Injection Well Leaks and Risk Confirmed
Speaking of hypothetical versus actual climate risk … I’m not shy about my cynicism of underground injection of carbon (carbon capture and storage, or CCS). My concerns are borne out of having direct experience with industrial wells used for hazardous...
Oct 29 2024 #climate, #compliance, #diversity, #environment, #equity, #esg, #human-rights, #investors, #social, #supply-chain
More SEC Regulatory Danger In Calling ESG/Sustainability Material
Earlier this year, I wrote about why ESG/sustainability professionals should not attempt to make materiality determinations on their own – at least for companies subject to SEC jurisdiction. Last week, over on TheCorporateCounsel.net, Meredith blogged about a Freshfields article that...
Oct 29 2024 #compliance, #environment, #esg, #investors, #social, #supply-chain
Sustainability Statements One of ESMAs Top Three Enforcement Priorities
The first set of reports under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) are due on January 1, 2025. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) will be monitoring these reports closely. The regulator recently released its enforcement priorities for the...
Oct 29 2024 #climate, #environment, #esg, #supply-chain
Insuring Carbon Offsets: What CSOs Should Know
Yesterday, Trellis (formerly GreenBiz) wrote about insurance solutions for the carbon market. Given the turmoil in carbon markets – reputational problems, fraud and growing frequency/severity of wildfires – using insurance to manage risks may make sense. “Buyers can insure their...
Oct 24 2024 #climate, #compliance, #diversity, #environment, #equity, #esg, #human-rights, #investors, #social, #supply-chain
Middle Market Companies Missing Out on Sustainability Value
In business mythology, ESG/sustainability is a discretionary endeavor primarily for large companies that can afford to spend money on something with little, no or soft-dollar returns. In today’s world, that myth has been busted due to changes in regulatory mandates,...
Oct 24 2024 #climate, #environment, #esg, #supply-chain
Marriot Introduces Novel Sustainability Impact Report
As sustainability evolves, the market demands more information than ever. From investor surveys to regulatory disclosures, companies feel pressure from a variety of stakeholders to provide reliable information about sustainability impacts of their businesses. Hotel chain Marriott International is introducing...
Oct 24 2024 #climate, #environment, #esg
Oops – British Airways Calls High-Emitting Offer an “Oversight”
Professionals in ESG/sustainability talk about being siloed and not having enough exposure to or insight into company operations. That is generally true (we’ll be tackling that challenge soon), but usually the consequences don’t show themselves blatantly and publicly. Unfortunately, that...
Oct 23 2024 #assurance, #climate, #compliance, #diversity, #equity, #esg, #human-rights, #investors, #social, #supply-chain
SEC Continues to Enforce for ESG/Sustainability
It recently came to light that the SEC disbanded their ESG Enforcement Task Force. The move was met with much disappointment in ESG/sustainability circles who may not have fully appreciated SEC’s subtlety in saying that “the expertise developed by the...
Oct 23 2024 #climate, #compliance, #diversity, #environment, #equity, #esg, #human-rights, #investors, #social, #supply-chain
Green Hushing Is An Opportunity, Not a Problem
I recently ran across a LinkedIn post offering guidance to “sustainability consulting companies and climate tech start ups” whose business is negatively impacted by green hushing trends. Putting it in a broader context and through the lens of my LegalESG...
Oct 23 2024 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #investors
ClientEarth Challenges BlackRock’s “Sustainable” Funds
NGO ClientEarth has taken aim at BlackRock in alleging that European investments marketed as “sustainable” include substantial exposure to fossil fuels which misleads consumers. The NGO has sent a letter to the French Regulator Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) seeking...
Oct 22 2024 #assurance, #climate, #compliance, #diversity, #environment, #equity, #esg, #human-rights, #investors, #social, #supply-chain
Is LinkedIn Your Go-To ESG/Sustainability Information Source? Read This
Last week’s LegalESG in NYC was excellent and one particularly surprising point came through: LinkedIn is a primary information source for ESG/sustainability lawyers, practitioners and service providers. I understand the appeal – it’s free, has international coverage and is generally...
Oct 22 2024 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #investors, #supply-chain
Is This The Best Carbon Offset Project Ever?
I’m not shy about my cynicism of the voluntary carbon offset market and some of the related technology/solutions, and I do take heat for that. Although the VCM has its place in carbon management, offsetting was supposed to be the...
Oct 22 2024 #compliance, #environment, #esg, #investors
Hong Kong Publishes Voluntary Code of Conduct for ESG Raters
Last year, we wrote about Hong Kong’s plans to adopt a voluntary code of conduct for ESG raters and data providers. Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) appointed the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) to develop the code of...
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For ease of navigation, we have broken all subject areas into categories: Environmental, , and Governance.
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- Chief Sustainability Officers
- E&S Governance
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- Investor Policies & Trends / Shareholder Activism & Engagement / Shareholder Proposals
- Investor Trends
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View all Subject Areas, including those spanning multiple disciplines, here.
Featured Q&A Members Only
Shareholder Proposal – Committee on Decarbonization Risk
My company received a “Committee on Decarbonization Risk” shareholder proposal. Has anyone seen this proposal at other companies?
11/18/2024, Question #25477
Reporting to SEC if Climate Disclosure Rule is Vacated
If the SEC climate disclosure rule is overturned or vacated by the court, is it correct that companies will have no legal obligation to report on climate risk management matters to the SEC?
10/31/2024, Question #25193
SEC Climate Rule Goal/Target
Regarding the new climate rule, if a company determines that a GHG emissions reduction target or goal is material, the company may also need to report and annually update the underlying Scope 1, 2 and/or 3 emissions metrics to satisfy its disclosure obligations, even if the GHG emissions metrics are not otherwise required to be disclosed.
If a company sets a goal/target, but determines that the goal/plan to achieve is immaterial – would they have to report out progress against that goal?
10/29/2024, Question #25145