Amidst challenges and conflicting demands from a variety of stakeholders, technology and life sciences companies have increased their voluntary disclosure regarding environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns. Despite...more
4/12/2024
/ Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Investors ,
Life Sciences ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Shareholders ,
Silicon Valley ,
Sustainable Business Practices ,
Technology
On March 6, 2024, the SEC adopted final rules (Final Rules) requiring extensive climate-related disclosures in companies’ annual reports and registration statements. The new rules are set forth in Release No. 33-11275. The...more
3/19/2024
/ Annual Reports ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Emerging Growth Companies ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Final Rules ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Regulation S-X ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, the leading proxy voting advisory firms in the United States, have announced updates and clarifications for their voting guidelines for the U.S. market for the 2024...more
1/4/2024
/ Board of Directors ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Glass Lewis ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Proxy Advisory Firms ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Voting ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Shareholders
A Look at the Disclosure Practices of Small and Mid-Size Companies -
In our report we continue to look at the progress that smaller public biotech companies have made in their reporting on environmental, social and...more
Broadly considered, stockholder activism has been a significant phenomenon among the largest U.S. public companies, with activists of a variety of stripes waging campaigns on a wide range of issues including in the form of...more
Following the death of George Floyd and mass protests against racial inequity in 2020 culminating years of slowly building stakeholder pressure on various aspects of diversity, many companies expressed their commitment to...more
9/22/2023
/ Affirmative Action ,
Board of Directors ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Human Capital ,
Proxy Voting ,
Race Discrimination ,
Racial Bias ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ,
Shareholders ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Students for Fair Admissions v University of North Carolina
While all eyes are on proposed federal and European climate disclosure rules, the California legislature passed two climate-related bills that overlap somewhat with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s proposed...more
9/15/2023
/ California ,
Climate Change ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Covered Business ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Filing Requirements ,
General Assembly ,
Governor Newsom ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Noncompliance ,
Penalties ,
Pending Legislation ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
State and Local Government ,
State Legislatures
As we have noted in our previous report, environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues have garnered significant attention from a variety of stakeholders, resulting in increased reporting by many companies. While much of...more
8/22/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Investors ,
Mergers ,
New Legislation ,
New Regulations ,
Popular ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholders
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns and how companies respond to them continue to generate scrutiny from a large number of stakeholders. Last year, in our ESG in Silicon Valley: A Look at the ESG Disclosure...more
4/5/2023
/ Business Strategies ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Investors ,
Life Sciences ,
Popular ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholders ,
Silicon Valley ,
Technology ,
Voluntary Disclosure
After 2022’s challenging capital markets environment, leaders in the technology and life sciences industries have set their sights on 2023 and beyond—evaluating the private fundraising market, looking for ways to extend their...more
3/10/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Capital Raising ,
Emerging Growth Companies ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Investment ,
Investors ,
Life Sciences ,
Mergers ,
Private Sector ,
Public Offerings ,
Technology ,
Technology Sector
Since the start of the Biden administration in January 2021, there has been an increased focus on combatting climate change, including regulatory actions and initiatives to increase disclosure by corporations regarding their...more
12/23/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Contractors ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, the leading proxy advisors in the United States, have announced updates and clarifications for their voting guidelines for the 2023 proxy season. Their voting...more
12/6/2022
/ Board of Directors ,
Climate Change ,
Cybersecurity ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Glass Lewis ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Overboarding ,
Proxy Advisors ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholders ,
Voting Rights
This comprehensive report includes five-year trend data, covering the 2018-2022 proxy seasons, for annual meeting participation, director elections, say-on-pay and other proposals among the technology and life sciences...more
11/22/2022
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Capital Markets ,
Controlling Stockholders ,
Corporate Governance ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Proxy Proposals ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Voting ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
S&P ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Surveys
Despite some recent criticisms of environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives and their proponents, demands for ESG information, including by large institutional investors and regulators, are expected to continue....more
Corporate boardroom diversity has increased significantly over the last few years, and the interest in and demand for gender and racial/ethnic diversity on boards of directors remain high. Lack of corporate board diversity...more
6/3/2022
/ Board of Directors ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Diversity ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Gender Equity ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Nasdaq ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed rules and amendments that would require SEC reporting companies and companies filing registration statements to provide certain climate-related information in their...more
3/28/2022
/ Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Financial Statements ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Proposed Rules ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Throughout the last few years, investors, proxy advisors, governance professionals and a number of stakeholders have expressed a keen interest in how companies are managing their environmental, social and governance (ESG)...more
3/7/2022
/ Capital Markets ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Investors ,
Proxy Advisors ,
Public Disclosure ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Shareholders ,
Silicon Valley ,
Technology Sector
Corporate social responsibility is not a new concept, but in recent years there has been an increased focus by investors and other stakeholders regarding how companies are addressing their environmental, social and governance...more
In the last few years, environmental, social and governance (ESG) topics have become common in boardrooms, as investment funds with an ESG focus have raised billions and ESG’s non-financial metrics are increasingly factored...more
In recent years the demand for information regarding companies’ environmental, social and governance (ESG) activities, risks and opportunities has risen sharply. Shareholders and other stakeholders seek ESG information that...more
1/11/2022
/ Board of Directors ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Corporate Governance ,
Data Collection ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholders
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, the leading proxy advisors in the United States, have announced updates and clarifications for their voting guidelines for the 2022 proxy season. Their voting...more
12/10/2021
/ Board of Directors ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Diversity ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Glass Lewis ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proxy Advisors ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs)
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) announced benchmark voting policy changes in the United States, increasing expectations for board racial and ethnic diversity, adding director accountability for environmental and...more