Hot Topics
Featured Blogs - Subscribe to Free Blog
Sep 18 2025 #climate, #environment, #esg, #supply-chain
IEA: No Peak Oil Yet – “Oil and Natural Gas Use Rise Out to 2050”
Few can match Hall of Fame Yankee catcher Yogi Berra‘s quotability. “Predictions are hard – especially about the future,” he once said (although the quote is also attributed to quantum physicist Niels Bohr). Today, it could be the motto of...
Sep 18 2025 #climate, #environment, #esg, #supply-chain
New Study Casts Doubt on CCS’s Storage Capacity
Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) is often touted as a potential solution for carbon emissions and climate change. The idea behind CCS is that we can capture carbon and inject it into underground wells to be sealed away for hundreds,...
Sep 18 2025
New This Week on PracticalESG.com
Notable additions to PracticalESG.com this week are below. Blogs of the week: The Problem of Bias in Sustainability and SEC Chair Atkins Takes Aim at ISSB, Double Materiality at OECD Roundtable We released our Compendium of Sustainability Financial Disclosures: Over...
Sep 17 2025 #assurance, #climate, #compliance, #diversity, #environment, #equity, #esg, #human-rights, #investors, #social, #supply-chain
McKinsey: Investors “Focus on Value-Creation Fundamentals” Not Sustainability Metrics (Part 1)
McKinsey’s 2025 investor survey has some unsurprising results: investors “focus on value-creation fundamentals” and “lean on metrics that inform them about return, growth, and profitability”. Sustainability metrics? Um, not so much. “Overall, investors continue to ask for hard data on...
Sep 17 2025 #assurance, #climate, #compliance, #diversity, #environment, #equity, #esg, #human-rights, #investors, #social, #supply-chain
McKinsey: Investors “Focus on Value-Creation Fundamentals” Not Sustainability Metrics (Part 2)
Continuing from McKinsey: Investors “Focus on Value-Creation Fundamentals” Not Sustainability Metrics (Part 1)… Aside from the metrics, investors also demand that the company’s messaging be consistent across all venues: “over 90 percent of respondents said they believe a company’s equity...
Sep 17 2025 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #supply-chain
The Role of Resilience in Sustainability
A major part of delivering a successful sustainability program is planning for evolving climate risks. Climate change is driving severe weather, which manifests as physical risks. Neglecting changing weather patterns and risks they pose to business can impact companies not...
Sep 16 2025 #assurance, #climate, #compliance, #diversity, #environment, #equity, #esg, #human-rights, #investors, #social, #supply-chain
Now Available – Groundbreaking Research, Guidance on Financial Disclosures for Sustainability
I’ve teased it for weeks and now it is available – our Compendium of Sustainability Financial Disclosures: Over 100 Selected U.S. Publicly Traded Companies. This first-of-its-kind Compendium summarizes accounting and regulatory disclosure mandates impacting sustainability topics, with excerpts from over...
Sep 16 2025 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #investors, #supply-chain
SEC Chair Atkins Takes Aim at ISSB, Double Materiality at OECD Roundtable
SEC Chair Paul Atkins attended the Inaugural OECD Roundtable on Global Financial Markets last week as part of OECD’s Financial Markets Week 2025. In his keynote address, he took shots at sustainability, ISSB and CSRD’s double materiality standard: “With respect...
Sep 16 2025 #compliance, #environment, #esg, #investors, #supply-chain
Sustainability Professionals Pivot from Compliance to Business Value
A couple of weeks ago, we co-hosted a business round table with Source Intelligence. There, I discussed Lawrence’s new research into company disclosures of ESG ROI in hard dollar value in sustainability reports and 10-Ks. I emphasized that in order...
Sep 11 2025 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #investors, #supply-chain
NZBA Looks to Restructure Organization
The Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) has had a challenging past few years. As scrutiny of climate alliances increased among red-state attorneys general, threats of enforcement made banks wary of the NZBA. This resulted in a mass exodus of NZBA members....
Sep 11 2025 #climate, #compliance, #diversity, #environment, #equity, #esg, #human-rights, #investors, #social, #supply-chain
The Problem of Bias in Sustainability
McKinsey recently published a short and very interesting article Bias Busters: When the question—not the answer—is the mistake. While not specifically about sustainability, it very much speaks to practitioners. If you aren’t familiar with “framing”, it is “a well-documented cognitive bias...
Sep 11 2025
New This Week on PracticalESG.com
Notable additions to PracticalESG.com this week are below. Blogs of the week: KPMG: CSRD Assurance Provides More Value to Companies Than Investors and SEC Looks to Make Changes to Materiality and Related Disclosures 4 new CSRD reports were added this...
Sep 10 2025 #compliance, #esg, #investors, #supply-chain
Tariff-Related Securities Lawsuits Expected to Spotlight Supplier Due Diligence
I’ve previously written about how the new world of tariffs puts unprecedented pressure on supplier due diligence professionals. A new lawsuit against Dow Chemical may be a harbinger of what is to come. Kevin M. LaCroix, an attorney and Executive...
Sep 10 2025 #compliance, #environment, #esg, #supply-chain
Arizona Sues Hefty for Greenwashing
We may be in the midst of a federal deregulatory environment, but that isn’t stopping states from enforcing against greenwashing. The Arizona Attorney General recently announced a new lawsuit against trash bag brand Hefty, alleging the company misled consumers by...
Sep 10 2025 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #investors
CARB Workshop Sheds Light on California Climate Disclosures
California’s climate disclosure requirements loom over businesses operating in the state. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is responsible for promulgating disclosure standards and issuing guidance to companies in scope of SB 261 and SB 253. However, despite compliance deadlines...
Sep 9 2025 #assurance, #climate, #compliance, #diversity, #environment, #equity, #esg, #human-rights, #investors, #social, #supply-chain
SEC Looks to Make Changes to Materiality and Related Disclosures
Last week, the SEC published the Spring 2025 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. Chair Paul Atkins said in his statement that the Agenda contains “a number of envisioned deregulatory rule proposals to reduce compliance burdens and facilitate capital...
Sep 9 2025 #climate, #compliance, #diversity, #environment, #equity, #esg, #human-rights, #investors, #social, #supply-chain
Tesla Avoids Eleven ESG-Related Proposals at Shareholder Meeting
Last week, Business Insider reported “Tesla rejected 11 investor proposals calling for accountability and sustainability” at its upcoming November 6 shareholder meeting. Tesla won approval from the SEC to exclude these from the company’s meeting agenda. Among the rejected proposals:...
Sep 9 2025 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg
Wisconsin Youth File Climate Suit
A group of youth plaintiffs between the ages of eight and seventeen filed a climate lawsuit against the state of Wisconsin. The lawsuit argues that several key pieces of Wisconsin energy policy are unconstitutional under the state constitution – violating...
Sep 4 2025 #assurance, #climate, #diversity, #environment, #equity, #esg, #human-rights, #investors, #social, #supply-chain
KPMG: CSRD Assurance Provides More Value to Companies Than Investors
KPMG released a new report ESG Assurance Maturity Index 2025 with unexpected findings. The firm “surveyed 1,320 senior executives and board members with ESG reporting and assurance knowledge across industries and regions, with a mean revenue of US$16.8 billion. Of...
Sep 4 2025 #compliance, #esg, #investors
Proxy Advisors Win Injunction in Texas
A new Texas law subjects proxy advisory firms to extensive mandated disclosures if those firms base their services on “non-financial factors,” including ESG and DEI. Two of the largest firms, Glass Lewis and ISS, challenged the new law and won...
Sep 4 2025 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #investors, #supply-chain
New This Week on PracticalESG.com
Notable additions to PracticalESG.com this week are below. Blogs of the week: How chatGPT and Gemini Use Sustainability Information and US Trade Negotiations Influence EU Sustainability. new CSRD reports were added this week which can be viewed here. Hot Topics...
Sep 3 2025 #equity, #esg, #human-rights, #supply-chain
Volkswagen Fined $30 Million for Decades-Old Modern Slavery Claims
We’re used to seeing litigation and regulatory enforcement around modern slavery, but here is something different. According to Australia’s The Canberra Times, “A labour court, in the Amazonian state of Pará, on Friday ordered VW’s Brazilian subsidiary to pay compensation...
Sep 3 2025 #compliance, #environment, #esg, #human-rights, #supply-chain
Changes to German Supply Chain Due Diligence Law Move Forward
Back in July, we wrote about Germany’s plans to scale back its Supply Chain Due Diligence Act. Now the government has moved forward with that plan, and the German Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has circulated a draft of...
Sep 3 2025 #climate, #environment, #esg, #investors, #supply-chain
Popping the AI Bubble Creates a Carbon Conundrum
A new report from MIT I blogged about last week stirred up more talk (or perhaps recognition) that we may be in an AI bubble soon to pop. That isn’t particularly surprising, but it raises questions and perhaps conflicting feelings...
Sep 2 2025 #climate, #compliance, #diversity, #environment, #equity, #esg, #human-rights, #investors, #social, #supply-chain
How chatGPT and Gemini Use Sustainability Information
Last week, I read a disturbing article about how much Google’s general AI platform Gemini relies on social media. There was also an interesting announcement from Perplexity that they are planning to pay media companies when their articles are used...
Sep 2 2025 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #investors, #supply-chain
Judge Denies Preliminary Injunction of CA Climate Laws
We’ve been following litigation against California’s climate disclosure laws since early this year. In the last major update, the court dismissed two of the Plaintiff’s three major arguments, leaving only the issue of compelled speech to be decided at trial....
Sep 2 2025 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #investors, #supply-chain
Singapore Announces 5 Year ISSB Delay
When the ISSB’s IFRS S1 and S2 standards were announced, many markets enthusiastically pledged to implement them. Chief among these was Singapore’s Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority and the Singapore Exchange. Now enthusiasm has cooled and regulators are taking a...
Aug 28 2025 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #human-rights, #investors, #supply-chain
US Trade Negotiations Influence EU Sustainability
Back in March, Lawrence wrote about the potential for tariffs and trade policy to weaken EU sustainability legislation – particularly, those that impose obligations on non-EU companies. Now, details emerging from the US/EU Framework on an Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair,...
Aug 28 2025 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #investors, #supply-chain
FCA Review Finds Climate Reporting Needs Improvement
Earlier this summer, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a review of climate reporting by asset managers, life insurers, and FCA-regulated pension providers. This review found that while mandatory climate disclosures improved risk management practices, the process and outcomes...
Aug 28 2025 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #investors, #supply-chain
New This Week on PracticalESG.com
Notable additions to PracticalESG.com this week are below. Blogs of the week: Another tie between Apple Removes Carbon Neutral Logo From Packaging and Is Antitrust Enforcement Coming for Sustainability Collaborations? 6 new CSRD reports were added this week which can...
Aug 27 2025 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #supply-chain
Apple’s Carbon Neutral Claim Faces Criticism From German Court
Yesterday, I wrote about Apple dropping carbon-neutral claims from its packaging. While the decision is driven by a new EU directive coming into force, the company was just given another reason to drop the claim. A German court found that...
Aug 27 2025 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #supply-chain
Carbon Credit Rater Disses Icelandic Direct Air Capture Project
I’m usually cynical and critical of carbon offset projects, but this is going a little too far in my opinion. Trellis reported that “Calyx [an independent rater of carbon credits projects] assigned a Tier 3 rating — the lowest of...
Aug 27 2025 #esg, #investors
Private Equity Firms Mirror Public Companies In Emphasizing Sustainability Risk, Not Value
A recent paper from Green Buoy and Green Clout – two consulting houses – published interesting findings from their interviews with “nine representatives from seven different private equity firms with a combined total capital raised of over $400 billion and...
Aug 26 2025 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #supply-chain
Apple Removes Carbon Neutral Logo From Packaging
Back in 2023, Apple made sustainability news with a flashy ad touting its new line of “carbon-neutral” Apple Watches. At the time, I raised concerns about litigation risks posed by the bold statement. Sure enough, the company was hit with...
Aug 26 2025 #esg, #investors
MIT Study Highlights Unexpected Parallels Between AI and Sustainability, But Not What You Think
Last year, I wrote a handful of blogs (here, here and here) about how AI and sustainability teams could learn from each other in terms of determining, communicating their respective business value – and how to move forward. I saw...
Aug 26 2025 #assurance, #climate, #compliance, #diversity, #environment, #equity, #esg, #investors, #supply-chain
Welcome Our Newest Partner – TRC Companies’ Sustainability Services
We are very pleased to announced our latest partner – TRC Companies, a premier environmental consulting, redevelopment, energy management and project management firm in business for more than 55 years. TRC offers a comprehensive suite of sustainability services designed to...
Aug 21 2025 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #investors, #supply-chain
Is Antitrust Enforcement Coming for Sustainability Collaborations?
Like many things in ESG, antitrust risk is rapidly evolving. Last week at our ESG Litigation Landscape 2025 webcast, we dove into what’s going on with antitrust enforcement. While novel theories are proceeding against financial services firms, some signs should...
Aug 21 2025 #compliance, #esg, #human-rights, #social, #supply-chain
Homeland Security Publishes 2025 Update to UFLPA Strategy
The Department of Homeland Security published 2025 Updates to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Strategy. The updates add caustic soda, copper, jujubes (red dates), lithium, and steel as high-priority sectors for enforcement and offers other information on identified entities as well:...
Aug 21 2025 #environment, #esg
New This Week on PracticalESG.com
Notable additions to PracticalESG.com this week are below. Blog of the week: Judge Rules Against Administration’s DEI Guidance 5 new CSRD reports were added this week which can be viewed here. New Webcast: ESG Litigation Landscape 2025 Hot Topics for...
Aug 20 2025 #compliance, #diversity, #equity, #esg, #human-rights, #social
Judge Rules Against Administration’s DEI Guidance
The current administration is pushing hard against DEI in government and business. Building on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard, the administration has repeatedly argued that many DEI practices are unlawful. Recently, a U.S. district...
Aug 20 2025 #climate, #diversity, #environment, #equity, #esg, #human-rights, #investors, #social, #supply-chain
McKinsey’s Tim Koller on Business Fundamentals and Sustainability (Part 1)
Readers who are MBAs or corporate finance aficionados know the name Tim Koller, author of Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies – now in its eighth edition. That text is required reading for many university business programs. I...
Aug 20 2025 #climate, #diversity, #environment, #equity, #esg, #human-rights, #investors, #social, #supply-chain
McKinsey’s Tim Koller Speaks on Business Fundamentals and Sustainability (Part 2)
Continuing my previous post on excerpts from Tim Koller’s recent interview podcast that offer some wisdom for sustainability professionals. On corporate culture around risk: “One of the biases that many large companies have is loss aversion. They weigh losses much...
Aug 19 2025 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #investors, #supply-chain
FASB Issues Tentative Decision on Environmental Credits and Environmental Credit Obligations (Topic 818)
The FASB took on Environmental Credits and Environmental Credit Obligations (ECOs) (Topic 818) at the Wednesday, August 13, 2025 FASB Board Meeting. The notice of the Tentative Decision is here. There is a lot in it, deserving a careful read....
Aug 19 2025 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #supply-chain
GAO Report: Limited Federal Role in Voluntary Carbon Markets
The same day that FASB agreed on accounting standards updates for carbon offsets and credits, GAO issued a report Carbon Credits: Limited Federal Role in Voluntary Carbon Markets. While FASB’s action makes clear that federal accounting standards do apply to...
Aug 19 2025 #climate, #compliance, #environment, #esg, #supply-chain
EU Adopts Voluntary Reporting for SMEs
The European Commission has officially adopted a recommendation on voluntary reporting for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These voluntary standards, known as VSMEs, are a scaled-back version of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) used for reporting under the Corporate...
Featured Events
Aug 12 2025
Webcast
: ESG Litigation Landscape 2025
- AI in ESG
- Agricultural Sector
- Air Emissions
- Anti-ESG
- B Corporation
- Biodiversity
- Board Oversight of E&S Issues
- Board Oversight of E&S Issues / M&A Considerations
- Bonded Labor
- CBAM
- CSRD
- Carbon Management
- Chemical Use
- Chief Sustainability Officers
- Circular Economy
- Climate
- Climate / Emissions / Offsets
- Climate Bonds
- Clothing/Textiles Sector
- Companies Changing ESG Commitments
- Company ESG Reports
- Compliance / Enforcement / Litigation
- Data Centers
- Deforestation
- Disclosing ESG Performance
- E&S Data Verification, Assurance & Auditors
- E&S Governance
- ESG Business Value
- ESG Disclosures / Reporting
- ESG Financial Impact
- ESG Issues by Industry Sector
- ESG Ratings
- ESG Ratings Agencies
- ESG Staffing Matters
- Electronics / Technology Sector
- Energy Sector
- Enforcement
- Financial Services Sector
- GHGs
- Green Bonds
- Greenwashing
- Healthcare
- Hot Topics
- International ESG Standard Setting Organizations
- International Trade/Supply Chain/Social Risk
- Investor Perspectives on ESG Performance
- Investor Policies & Trends / Shareholder Activism & Engagement / Shareholder Proposals
- Investor Trends
- Just Transition
- Legal Services Sector
- Litigation
- M&A Considerations
- Materiality in ESG Performance Disclosure
- Offsets
- Plastics
- Private Companies
- Product Labels
- Public Benefit Corporation
- Real Estate Sector
- Retail Sector
- Reuse / Recycling
- Risk Management
- Semiconductors Sector
- Shareholder Activism
- Shareholder Engagement
- Shareholder Proposals
- Social Audits
- Social Risk
- Supply Chain
- Sustainability-linked Bonds
- Sustainable Finance/Bonds
- Trafficking & Slavery
- Transportation Sector
- Waste Management
- Water & Wastewater Issues
- Water Bonds
- Water Issues/Freshwater/ Ocean Health/ Wastewater
Featured Q&A Members Only
SEC Climate Disclosure Rule
What is the current status of the SEC climate disclosure rule?
09/15/2025, Question #30466
Liability for hyperlinked information in earnings disclosure – applicability to sustainability information
Here is a question posted over on TheCorporateCounsel.net Q&A Forum that is relevant to corporate sustainability messaging:
A company is proposing to include a couple hyperlinks in an earnings release to some previously published comments from the CEO that were made on LinkedIn about management philosophy. The information in those comments is not material. I believe that links such as those are not permitted in an SEC filing so the company would remove those links in the version of the release that gets furnished with the corresponding 8-K. Should there be any concern that nonetheless there would be any potential heightened liability associated with anything contained in the linked comments? Any other concerns with removing the links?
09/15/2025, Question #30463
Extent to which diversity must be discussed in proxy statement
It is my understanding that the only requirement as to diversity left for the proxy at this time is in relation to whether the nominating committee considers diversity in selecting directors. If a company, at the last minute out of concern of anti-DEI sentiment, changes its nominating committee charter to remove all reference to considering diversity when selecting directors, does it still need to mention diversity in the proxy as to selecting directors since the charter still spoke of diversity during the past fiscal year?
It appears that under the rule, a company is required to address in the proxy whether it considers diversity among its director nominees, and if so, how it considers diversity. This would appear to indicate that even if a company is concerned over anti DEI sentiment, it still needs to address diversity in the proxy, in terms or whether and how it considers it, even if it is considered in a way that does not involve race or gender.
It is still unclear to me whether a company that updates its charter at the last minute to remove all reference to race and gender in diversity can represent on the proxy that it does not consider race and gender in its diversity assessment. However it is my understanding that because proxies are forward looking, this may be acceptable.
It has also come to my attention that Glass Lewis issued a statement that it is sticking to its diversity expectations unlike ISS. Does this mean that a company that no longer requires race or gender as part of a diversity assessment risks a negative recommendation from GL?
07/8/2025, Question #29424