Private capital providers, investors, asset managers, and financial institutions will likely continue to face a fragmented regulatory landscape on ESG matters.
By Betty M. Huber, Matthew Green, Henry Miller, Austin J. Pierce, Catherine G. Willis, and Sam Wong
Various US states have taken and continue to take action on ESG investing and other matters, with new variants emerging regularly. Some of the state bills, laws, and actions overlap thematically, and indeed some are based on
Proposed regulations clarify FEOC restrictions and clean vehicle tax credit compliance for manufacturers aiming to produce eligible EVs.
By Jean-Philippe Brisson, Jim Cole, Eli M. Katz, Qingyi Pan, Rob Thompson, J. Dylan White, and Sam Wong
As countries around the world accelerate the transition to clean energy, the race to gain shares in the electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing market is intensifying, with global sales of EVs rising 31% in 2023.[1]
To facilitate increased
Bill calls for new ESG disclosure requirements in the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and formation of a Sustainable Finance Advisory Committee.
By Paul A. Davies, James R. Barrett, and Kristina S. Wyatt
On September 20, 2019, the US House Financial Services Committee passed H.R. 4329, the ESG Disclosure Simplification Act of 2019. The bill formed part of a suite of bills addressing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosures that were the subject of hearings in the House Financial Services Committee in July, as discussed in this blog post. While unlikely to become law under the current administration, the bill’s passage in the House Committee reflects the continuing drumbeat for reporting companies to issue additional ESG disclosures.
Overview of the Bill
ESG Disclosures
The bill would amend the Securities Exchange Act to require issuers to provide disclosures in their proxy statements describing the link between ESG metrics and the issuer’s long-term business strategy, as well as the process used to determine such impacts. The bill would also require the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to adopt rules to compel issuers to disclose ESG metrics in any filing requiring audited financial statements.
By Paul Davies and Andrew Westgate
On June 1, 2017, President Trump announced during a speech at the White House that the United States will withdraw from the Paris Agreement, fulfilling a campaign pledge to end the agreement that the President argued would harm the U.S. economy. Supporters of the Paris Agreement had lobbied for the U.S. to remain in the agreement, including members of the Trump Administration and 360 companies that signed an open letter to the President. In the end, President Trump was swayed by the agreement’s opponents who argued it threatened America’s energy sector. Though under its terms the U.S. cannot withdraw from the Paris Agreement until 2020, the effect of the announcement was immediate as leaders around the world condemned the decision and pledged support for the agreement.
In relation to China, the decision to withdraw is significant in two respects. First, cooperation between the U.S. and China was a key driver of the negotiations leading to the Paris Agreement and crossing the agreement’s threshold of 55% of the world’s carbon emissions to become effective. Second, President Trump has framed the decision as part of a larger pivot away from international trade and cooperation, which has left China in the unfamiliar position of a leading champion of international trade. China’s President Xi Jinping called on the world to “remain committed to developing free trade and investment” in Davos earlier this year, a position expressed by the U.S. in the past. Alex Wang, a professor of environmental law at the UCLA School of Law noted that “[w]hile the US is breaking these ties, China — which has traditionally been more reserved in international affairs — is building them at breakneck pace.”