Debevoise Discusses Banks and Climate-Change Initiatives

By David Rivkin, Natalie Reid, Samantha Rowe, Matthew Kaplan and Gregory Lyons January 12, 2021 by renholding

In the United States this past year, growing movements for social, racial and environmental justice, and the impact of an unprecedented health crisis, have coincided with a range of institutions increasing their focus on promoting environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) …

Skadden Discusses the Intersection of Sustainability Agreements and Antitrust Laws in the EU

By Bill Batchelor, Frederic Depoortere, Giorgio Motta, Ingrid Vandenborre, Aurora Luoma and Aristeidis Demiroglou December 14, 2020 by Nisha Chandra

Sustainability issues are increasingly high on the list of competition policy priorities both at the European Union and member state levels. The European Commission (EC) and national competition authorities are actively rethinking how competition policy can better support the transition …

Paul Weiss Discusses NY Regulator’s Advice to Financial Companies on Climate Risk

By Mark S. Bergman, Roberto J. Gonzalez, Brad S. Karp, David Curran and Sofia D. Martos December 9, 2020 by Nisha Chandra

On October 29, 2020, The New York State Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) published an industry letter (the “Industry Letter”) for banks and other financial institutions that it regulates that details the range of climate change risks that could soon …

Resurrecting the Office of Financial Research

By Hilary J. Allen November 30, 2020 by renholding

The Office of Financial Research (“OFR”) was created by the Dodd-Frank Act to help address the gaps in data availability and analysis that had hampered governmental authorities in their response to the financial crisis of 2008. It was hoped that …

Gibson Dunn Discusses the EU Sustainable Finance Framework for Private Fund Managers

By Michelle Kirschner, Chris Hickey and Martin Coombes November 10, 2020 by Nisha Chandra

The European Commission’s Sustainable Finance Action Plan [1] (the “Action Plan”) proposed a package of measures including, amongst other initiatives, a regulation imposing sustainability-related disclosures on financial market participants (“SFDR”[2]) and a regulation to …

Climate Change as Systemic Risk

By Barnali Choudhury October 7, 2020 by renholding

Governments have tended to treat climate change as primarily an issue of environmental policy. Recent climate change-related events, ranging from hurricanes to forest fires to floods, and their devastating effects on the global economy, however, are gradually alerting regulators and …

Wachtell Lipton Discusses the Other “S” in ESG: Building a Sustainable and Resilient Supply Chain

By David M. Silk, David B. Anders, Sabastian V. Niles, Christina C. Ma and Carmen X.W. Lu August 17, 2020 by renholding

The current pandemic, blind spots in information flows through supply lines, the shutdowns in meat processing plants around the world, the ongoing shortages in personal protective equipment and, most recently, the scandal involving British retailer Boohoo, have all underscored the …

Wachtell Lipton Offers Thoughts for Boards of Directors in 2020

By Martin Lipton, Steven A. Rosenblum, William Savitt, Karessa L. Cain, Hannah Clark and Bita Assad July 8, 2020 by renholding

The past six months have been marked by a profound upheaval that has accelerated the growing focus on both the purpose of the corporation and the role of the board in overseeing and leading the corporation in ways that promote …

Should the Modern Corporation Maximize Shareholder Value?

By Sanjai Bhagat and R. Glenn Hubbard May 18, 2020 by renholding

Fifty years ago this year, Milton Friedman, later to be a Nobel laureate in economics, famously argued that corporate governance should focus solely on shareholder value maximization, while conforming to applicable laws and regulations. That view was controversial then. After …

Changing Expectations for Financial Disclosure of Climate-Related Information

By Hana V. Vizcarra May 1, 2020 by renholding

In early 2020, State Street Global Advisors, BlackRock, and other investment firms announced their plans for persuading companies to address financially-material environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. The high-profile announcements followed moves in recent years by Wellington Management, CalPERS, and …

Nuveen Previews 2020 Proxy Season: Environmental and Social Practices

By Nuveen Responsible Investing Team May 1, 2020 by renholding

Companies recognize the importance of environmental and social (E&S) factors and are giving consideration to a broader group of stakeholders to help mitigate risk. However, new regulations bring uncertainty to the future of environmental, social and governance (ESG) proposals.

The …

Wachtell Lipton Discusses UK and EU Regulators’ Latest Moves on ESG

By David M. Silk, David A. Katz, Sabastian V. Niles, Carmen X. W. Lu and Ram Sachs April 16, 2020 by renholding

Amid the ongoing push for standardized, comparable and decision-useful ESG disclosures, regulators in the United Kingdom and the European Union have proposed additional disclosures and benchmarks to promote sustainable economic activity. The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published …

The Results Are in: Global Investor-Director Survey on Climate Risk Management

By The Millstein Center and LeaderXXchange February 14, 2020 by renholding

Institutional investors are increasingly focused on “extra-financial performance” as a predictor of long-term success of companies. Topics like climate change, CO2 emissions reduction, respect for the environment, labour rights, and diversity are more and more factored into investment decisions.

Investors, …

Cleary Gottlieb Discusses SEC Stance on Climate Change Disclosures

By Sandra Flow, Nicolas Grabar, Jeffrey D. Karpf and Rosa Parmose February 12, 2020 by Avesh Krishna

On January 30, the Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Clayton and Commissioners Lee and Peirce each issued statements on climate-related disclosures in SEC filings. The statements evidence some debate within the SEC on this topic, which has attracted considerable recent …

Fed Governor Discusses Why Climate Change Matters for Monetary Policy and Financial Stability

By Lael Brainard November 25, 2019 by Avesh Krishna

I want to thank my colleagues at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, especially Mary Daly, Galina Hale, Òscar Jordà, and Glenn Rudebusch, for organizing this research conference.¹ The presentations today provide important insights into the many important

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How SEC Rule 14a-8 and the Ordinary Business Exception Impede ESG Disclosure Reform

By Virginia Harper Ho November 12, 2019 by renholding

Shareholder proposals urging corporate boards to report on climate‑related risk made headlines in 2017 when they earned majority support from investors at ExxonMobil, Occidental Petroleum, and PPL.[1] The key to this historic vote was the support of the Big …

ISS Offers 2019 Global Policy Survey Results

By Institutional Shareholder Services September 25, 2019 by renholding

Key Findings

Board Gender Diversity: Majorities of both investors (61 percent) and non-investors (55 percent) agreed with the view that board gender diversity is an essential attribute of effective board governance regardless of the company or its market. Approximately 27

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ISS Takes an Early Look at 2019 Shareholder Proposals

By Kosmas Papadopoulos March 5, 2019 by renholding

In the U.S., shareholder proposal filings have historically played an important role in advancing corporate governance and in highlighting key risks related to environmental and social issues. Some of the major shifts in governance practices during the past two decades …

ISS Lists Top 10 Corporate Governance Topics to Watch in 2019

By Kosmas Papadopoulos January 11, 2019 by renholding

As the world greets the New Year, investors and companies may take a moment to reflect on key corporate governance priorities in light of a potentially more challenging business environment in the year ahead. The prospect of slower global economic …

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