A couple of weeks ago, a lawsuit brought by the State of Connecticut against a major fossil fuel company, alleging various violations of the consumer protection laws in Connecticut (specifically, the Connecticut Unfair Trade...more
About a month ago, one of the myriad climate change tort lawsuits brought by state and local governments against major fossil fuel producers was dismissed by a state court judge in Baltimore, Maryland. (These lawsuits have...more
Regulatory Updates -
Governor Newsom (D-CA) recently proposed a two-year delay to California’s sweeping new mandatory climate disclosures, which apply to all large companies—public or private—doing business in California....more
8/2/2024
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Governor Newsom has proposed that the implementation of California's mandatory climate disclosure laws--which apply to all companies doing business in California and earning more than $500 million in revenue--be delayed for...more
Puerto Rico has become the latest governmental entity to launch a lawsuit against the major fossil fuel companies concerning tort claims related to climate change. These lawsuits have proliferated in state courts in recent...more
On June 4, 2024, a number of Congressional Democrats (10 Senators; 28 Congressmen) sent a letter to SEC Chairman Gensler, urging that the SEC “enforce existing SEC climate disclosure-related guidance” while the legal...more
On June 25, 2024, thirty-five Republican legislators, including seventeen senators and eighteen representatives, filed an amicus brief in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the pending challenge to the SEC’s...more
On June 4, 2024, a number of Congressional Democrats (10 Senators; 28 Congressmen) sent a letter to Chairman Gensler of the Securities & Exchange Commission, urging that the SEC “enforce[] [] existing SEC climate...more
About five years ago, the New York City Council enacted Local Law 97, which imposes strict restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions for large buildings (25,000 square feet or larger), and assesses fines and penalties for...more
When the SEC announced its mandatory climate disclosure rule on March 6, 2024, this regulation was immediately challenged by parties on both ends of the political spectrum. A number of states, fossil fuel companies, and...more
It has been reported that the European Central Bank will be imposing fines on as many as four lenders due to “not meeting deadlines set by the ECB for assessing their exposure to climate risks.” Specifically, ECB regulations...more
A coalition of Republican state attorneys-general representing nineteen states (Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South...more
Today, the Treasury Department and other federal agencies (including the Agriculture Department and Energy Department) issued a joint statement identifying seven principles that should be applied in the voluntary carbon...more
On Monday, May 21, 2024, Congressman Nadler (D-NY) and Congressman Correa (D-CA), the ranking Democratic members on the House Judiciary Committee and relevant subcommittee, sent a letter to the Attorney General and Chief...more
Last week, the Attorney General of Michigan announced that her office “will begin seeking proposals from attorneys and law firms . . . to pursue litigation related to the climate change impacts caused by the fossil fuel...more
The UK government, having originally announced that it would decide whether to impose mandatory climate disclosures on companies by July 2024, has now postponed that decision until the first quarter of 2025....more
This week, “BNP Paribas SA, the European Union's biggest bank” stated that it “is no longer participating in conventional bond issuance for” “oil and gas producers.” In essence, BNP Paribas has announced that it will cease...more
This week, Governor DeSantis of Florida signed into law certain legislation that expressly seeks to minimize ongoing efforts to combat climate change, and indeed erects various roadblocks to actions designed to promote...more
As recently reported by Columbia Law School's Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, “the number of climate-related cases filed globally each year has increased from a handful in the early 2000s to a few hundred annually since...more
Earlier this week, the Eighth Circuit issued an order enabling 19 Democratic Attorneys-General--representing the District of Columbia and eighteen states (AZ, CO, CT, DE, HA, IL, MD, MA, MI, MN, NV, NM, NY, OR, RI, VT, WA,...more
On March 6, 2024, the SEC issued its long-awaited climate disclosure rule, which mandates the disclosure of climate-related risks and Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions, among other things. The rule was immediately...more
Yesterday, Congressman McHenry (R-NC), the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, hosted a hearing entitled: “Beyond Scope: How the SEC's Climate Rule Threatens American Markets.” As could be expected, the...more
Today, the European Court of Human Rights issued a decision holding that Switzerland violated the human rights of its citizens by failing to adequately protect them from climate change. Specifically, the Court held that...more
Today, the SEC issued an order to stay the recently promulgated climate disclosure rule until the courts have the opportunity to judicially review the climate disclosure rule. Specifically, the SEC stated that it “has...more
During the opening remarks of the two-day SEC Speaks Conference, Chairman Gensler failed to express any statement of support in connection with the SEC's recently promulgated rule on mandatory climate disclosures. (Instead,...more