In a widely anticipated move, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that it will no longer defend the agency’s climate disclosure rule issued during the Biden administration. The disclosure rule...more
3/28/2025
/ Biden Administration ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Final Rules ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Earlier this week, Mark Uyeda, the Acting Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), began the process of unwinding that agency’s final climate disclosure rule enacted during the Biden administration. In a...more
On February 11, 2025, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) announced that it is suspending the consideration of diversity factors when making voting recommendations for directors at U.S. public companies. ISS’s press...more
2/13/2025
/ Board of Directors ,
Corporate Governance ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Executive Orders ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Shareholder Meetings ,
Shareholders ,
Trump Administration ,
Voting Rights
As companies begin preparing for the 2025 proxy season, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) and Glass Lewis, the leading providers of corporate governance solutions and proxy advisory services, recently issued...more
Key topics in Akin’s July 2024 Sustainability/ESG Policy and Regulatory Update include: Updated Assessment of SFDR by EU Regulators: The European Supervisory Authorities have proposed changes to the Sustainable Finance...more
8/2/2024
/ Corporate Governance ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Products ,
Greenwashing ,
NRDC ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
SFDR ,
Sustainability ,
UK
Akin’s newsletter on environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) policy and regulatory developments, provides a timely digest of ESG topics, news items and other relevant information regarding significant ESG policy...more
3/7/2024
/ Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Final Rules ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Policy Updates ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Sustainability ,
UNFCCC
Key Points -
On February 3, 2023, Activision Blizzard settled charges with the SEC, agreeing to pay $35 million to resolve novel claims that the company failed to maintain adequate disclosure controls to track workplace...more
Recent rulings in the United States and overseas, coupled with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) recently proposed disclosure rules covering climate-risk disclosures, underscore the attention boards of directors...more
On March 30, 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Examinations (the “Division”) released its 2022 examination priorities. The Division announced an enhanced focus on five “significant areas”:...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Examinations (the “Division”), on March 30, 2022, released its 2022 examination priorities (the “Division’s 2022 priorities”), highlighting the “annual...more
Editor’s Note: Akin Gump is pleased to publish the first in a series of blog posts covering significant issues U.S. boards of directors may expect to face in 2022. In addition to ongoing pressures on the part of boards of...more
2/28/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
DE Supreme Court ,
Demand Futility ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Material Adverse Effects ,
Merger Agreements ,
Mergers ,
Popular ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs)
2021: ESG On Center Stage -
As we approach the end of a watershed year, we are struck by the rapid evolution and intensification of all things ESG (environmental, social and governance). Virtually every segment of the...more
1/7/2022
/ Business Strategies ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Sustainability ,
UNFCCC
On November 3, 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a Staff Legal Bulletin (SLB 14L) limiting the ability of public companies to exclude from proxy statements shareholder proposals that relate to...more
11/9/2021
/ Corporate Governance ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
New Guidance ,
Ordinary Business Exception ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Statements ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Rule 14a-8 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Proposals
On Friday, August 6, 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an order (the “Order”) approving certain rule changes proposed by The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”), which will require companies listed...more
On Wednesday, May 26, 2021, a series of events transpired that could have long-lasting impacts on the energy industry and which seem likely to accelerate that industry’s evolving responses to environmental, social and...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC, or Commission) Division of Examinations (Division) recently issued a Risk Alert highlighting staff observations from examinations of investment advisers, registered investment...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continued to build on its climate and environmental, social and governance (ESG) agenda last week. On March 3, the SEC’s Division of Examinations announced the release of its 2021...more
On February 24, 2021, Acting Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Allison Herren Lee issued a statement directing the Division of Corporation Finance to “enhance its focus on climate-related disclosure in public...more
Welcome to Top 10 Topics in 2021: A Brave New World -
The world has changed a lot since our 2020 report. A global pandemic; an ongoing reckoning on race, inequality and social justice; a climate crisis; an economic shock;...more
2/11/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Governance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Executive Compensation ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Remote Working ,
State and Local Government ,
Trade Relations
Election and Impeachment -
The presidential race will garner much of the attention during the 2020 election cycle, but there is fierce competition elsewhere, too. Republicans and Democrats are fighting for both U.S. House...more
1/10/2020
/ #MeToo ,
Congressional Investigations & Hearings ,
Corporate Governance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Impeachment ,
NAFTA ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Political Candidates ,
Political Corruption ,
Presidential Elections ,
Shareholder Activism ,
Trump Administration
Election and Impeachment -
The presidential race will garner much of the attention during the 2020 election cycle, but there is fierce competition elsewhere, too. Republicans and Democrats are fighting for both U.S. House...more
1/9/2020
/ #MeToo ,
Congressional Investigations & Hearings ,
Corporate Governance ,
Cybersecurity ,
D&O Insurance ,
Diversity ,
Emerging Technology Companies ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
General Elections ,
Impeachment ,
NAFTA ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Political Candidates ,
Political Corruption ,
Presidential Elections ,
Quid Pro Quo ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Activism ,
Trade Policy ,
Trump Administration ,
United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) ,
Woman Board Members ,
WTO