Last week, the California Legislature passed two bills comprising the core of a landmark “Climate Accountability Package.” Together, the two bills will impose extensive new climate-related disclosure obligations on thousands of U.S. public and private companies with operations in California.
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California Legislature Passes Landmark Climate Disclosure Laws: Spotlight on SB 261
Last week, the California Legislature passed two bills as part of the state’s landmark “Climate Accountability Package.” If signed by Governor Newsom as anticipated, the two laws—Senate Bill 253 (SB 253) and Senate Bill 261 (SB 261)—will usher in significant…
Q&A: Navigating Climate and ESG Amid Regulatory Uncertainty
By Jayni Hein & Daniel Feldman
The following interview originally appeared in the National Law Journal.
What you need to know
- One of the significant issues many of their multinational clients have is the growing divide between how they operate and what’s expected of them in
…
EPA Webinar Addresses Pesticidal Device Efficacy Data
On September 6, 2023, EPA held a webinar relating to pesticidal devices, focused on air cleaning devices. The webinar highlighted EPA’s expectations for data that manufacturers must have on file to substantiate efficacy claims for these devices. This provides important…
Corporate Reporting in the UK: The International Sustainability Standards Board
On 26 June 2023, the International Sustainability Standards Board (“ISSB”) published its inaugural International Financial Reporting Standards Sustainability Disclosure Standards (the “ISSB Standards”) (read our previous blog post on this here). In August 2023, the UK Financial Conduct Authority…
The First Year of the Inflation Reduction Act
On August 16, 2022—one year ago today—President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”), the most significant clean energy and climate law in U.S. history. As we described in a series last summer, the IRA created durable tax credits and…
White House Council on Environmental Quality Proposes “Phase 2” Revisions to Environmental Review Regulations
By Jayni Hein
On July 31, 2023, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) released the second phase of its revisions to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing regulations that govern federal environmental review. Titled the “Bipartisan Permitting Reform Implementation…
ISSB Issues Inaugural Global Sustainability Disclosure Standards
On 26 June 2023, the International Sustainability Standards Board (the “ISSB”) issued its inaugural International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”) Sustainability Disclosure Standards (the “Standards”), heralding progress in the development of a global baseline of sustainability-linked disclosures. The Standards build on…
Historic Marine Biodiversity Treaty creates new Access and Benefit-Sharing obligations for life sciences companies
On 19 June 2023, after almost 20 years of negotiations, the United Nations (“UN”) member states adopted a landmark treaty to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of marine Biodiversity of areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (the “BBNJ” treaty).
One of…
Amendments to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA): Permitting Reform in Context
By Jayni Hein
The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, signed into law on June 3, raised the U.S. debt limit and ushered in the most significant revisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in its 50+ year history. While the statutory…