Sky Blog
The steady growth of sustainable finance in recent years poses difficult questions on how regulators should approach it. In the European Union (EU), for example, there has been an explosion of new rules aimed at addressing a broad array of …
Companies, banks, insurers and asset managers are increasingly working together within their industries on environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) initiatives to achieve shared goals on climate change, labor rights and other social issues. In the eyes of many, collective action …
Public pension funds and labor union funds (together “labor’s capital”) have faced years of criticism from both the left and the right. The current battle between ESG and anti-ESG advocates, and the introduction of legislation at the state level trying …
More than 40 years after its invention by lawyer Martin Lipton, the poison pill remains the subject of important judicial decisions and academic debate over corporate governance questions, in both the United States, its country of origin, and Japan, its …
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has published a new report on sustainability policies and practices for corporate governance. It includes a new dataset comparing the main trends and features of corporate sustainability at the global level, …
Materiality is a ubiquitous concept in accounting and auditing. Accounting and disclosure rules, with few exceptions, are bounded by materiality, meaning that if a matter is immaterial, it is often exempted from the accounting rules. In respect to audits, the …
Increasing corporate focus on environmental, sustainability, and governance (“ESG”) has prompted considerable criticism from across the ideological spectrum. Those who disagree with that focus – viewing it as a breach of fiduciary duty and antithetical to profit maximization – have …
Last December, Subaru boasted in TV ads of having donated over $250 million to charity in the last few years. The company specifically claimed that it was the ASPCA’s largest corporate donor. Animal lover that I am, I got a …
Following another year of increasing focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations by companies, investors and regulators alike, ESG appears to have cemented its position in the corporate landscape. As set out in our 28 July 2022 client alert …
Socially responsible investing (SRI) involves considering environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues when picking stocks. Once a niche area of fund management, the volume of global sustainable investment in five major markets reached $35.3 trillion at the start of 2020, …
2022 was a tale of two halves for M&A. The beginning of the year was active, as robust dealmaking carried over from the record-breaking levels of 2021 to drive approximately $2.2 trillion worth of global deals through the first half …
In recent years, major institutional investors in the U.S. have combined their efforts on environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) matters. Large institutional investors now vote in lockstep on a variety of corporate issues, jointly lead governance initiatives, and often adopt …
As U.S. financial institutions assess their ESG risks, opportunities, policies and procedures for 2023, key considerations include the numerous significant ESG developments in 2022—in particular, recent proposals and initiatives announced by financial regulators with respect to climate-related risk management and …
Investors are increasingly interested in whether firms implement environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies that, for example, reduce the firms’ carbon footprints, diversify their workplaces, or better protect customers’ private information. Some socially beneficial policies (e.g., improving energy-efficiency) may also …
As boards continue to evaluate how environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) considerations factor into corporate operations, some lawmakers and regulators have raised potential antitrust concerns about coordinated efforts. For example, several U.S. Senators sent letters to law firms admonishing them …
Both anticipated and less expected changes occurred across the ESG landscape in 2022. Anticipated changes included regulatory developments across the globe, including in the US, the UK, and the EU. Less expected changes included global and regional political shifts, such …
On March 21, 2022, the Security and Exchange Committee (SEC) proposed that all public firms disclose climate-change risk and greenhouse-gas (GHG) emission information in their financial statements. According to SEC Chair Gary Gensler, the proposal “would help issuers more efficiently …
In recent years, demand for companies to promote environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) values has increased dramatically. Investment in ESG-oriented mutual funds (green funds), rose globally by 53 percent in 2021 to $2.7 trillion (Kishan, 2022). Bloomberg forecasts…
In recent years, few topics within the U.S. Department of Labor’s (the “DOL”) purview have garnered as much interest as the potential consideration of environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) factors by fiduciaries of plans subject to the U.S. Employee Retirement …
Investors are increasingly incorporating assessments of companies’ performance on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues in their portfolio decisions. The global assets under management of the signatories to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) have grown from about …