News & Analysis as of

Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) Department of Labor (DOL) Regulatory Reform

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

So, How Can Participants Invest Their Retirement Money?

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

Under the current administration, the Department of Labor has once again changed course on its view of permissible investing strategies for retirement plans, warming to crypto and private equity, and confirming their distrust...more

Latham & Watkins LLP

US Government Reopens Discussion of Private Pension Investments Expectations

Latham & Watkins LLP on

The Department of Labor has taken two recent actions that indicate where the approach to retirement investment policy may go under the new administration....more

Morgan Lewis - ML Benefits

US Administration Announces Intent to Replace Biden-Era ESG Rule

The US Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) position on the appropriateness of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing strategies in ERISA-regulated retirement plans has ping-ponged for decades (as we’ve covered...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Here we go again

Here’s the short version: the Department of Labor’s decision to reopen the Biden-era ESG rule is overdue—and welcome....more

K&L Gates LLP

United States: Department of Labor ESG and Cryptocurrency-Related Matters

K&L Gates LLP on

The Department of Labor will engage in new rulemaking to replace Biden era regulations labeled “Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights” that allowed plan fiduciaries may consider...more

A&O Shearman

Crypto in and ESG out—DOL changes to 401(k) plan governance

A&O Shearman on

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced two significant changes to 401(k) plan investments, signaling an increase in latitude for fiduciaries who wish to make available cryptocurrency investments in their plans...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Labor Department Shifts Positions on ESG Investments and Cryptocurrencies in 401(k) Plans

As anticipated, the Department of Labor (DOL) recently changed its position with respect to certain investment choices that 401(k) plan fiduciaries sometimes consider or make available to plan participants, including...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

ESG Investing in 401(k) Plans – More Rule Changes on the Way

Troutman Pepper Locke on

In our recent client alert, “Texas Federal Court Allows an ERISA Fiduciary Challenge Against Alleged “ESG Investing” Without Any ESG Funds,” we reported that a Texas district court recently upheld Biden-administration...more

Ropes & Gray LLP

Trump DOL Withdraws Biden-Era ESG Rule and Crypto Guidance for ERISA Plans

Ropes & Gray LLP on

On May 28, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) began to articulate the Trump administration’s retirement policy priorities with its decisions to (i) end its defense of the Biden-era ESG rule in a long-running lawsuit...more

King & Spalding

U.S. Department of Labor Updates: Yes to Crypto and No to ESG?

King & Spalding on

On May 28, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) provided updated guidance on two employee benefit plan-related investment areas: (1) cryptocurrency and (2) environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) investing....more

Mintz

Trump Administration Will Replace the Biden Administration's Department of Labor Rule Permitting ESG Investing

Mintz on

3 Under the Biden Administration, the Department of Labor ("DOL") had issued a rule that permitted ESG factors to be considered when making investments on behalf of 401(k) plans. (This rule had replaced an earlier one from...more

Kilpatrick

Trump Admin. Rolls Back Biden-Era Rules on 401(k) Plan Investments: Crypto and ESG

Kilpatrick on

The Trump administration has rescinded (or signaled that it will replace) current guidance that was issued by the Biden administration’s DOL regarding (1) retirement plan investments in cryptocurrencies (and other digital...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Federal judge affirms Biden rule

A federal judge in Amarillo, Texas, rejected arguments made by 26 attorneys general in Republican-led states challenging the legitimacy of the Biden Administration’s so-called ESG rule....more

Lathrop GPM

The “Deregulatory Initiative” Executive Order: Impact on Employee Benefit Plans

Lathrop GPM on

A February 19 Executive Order, titled “Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Deregulatory Initiative,” is aimed at directing the “Administration to focus the...more

Mintz

Biden Administration's DOL Rule Permitting ESG Investments Survives Legal Challenge

Mintz on

4 Last week, a federal district judge in the Northern District of Texas upheld a rule promulgated by the Biden Administration's Department of Labor enabling ESG-focused investing. Specifically, the court determined that the...more

Jones Day

Congressional Republicans and State Attorneys General Challenge Biden Administration's ESG 401(k) Rule

Jones Day on

Republicans at the state and federal levels are challenging a Biden administration rule (the "Rule") intended to walk back Trump-era regulations restricting the ability of retirement fund managers to consider climate change...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

DOL’s Latest ESG Proposal: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

On October 14, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (the “DOL”) published in the Federal Register a new proposed regulation (the “Proposed Rules”) on fiduciary responsibility in...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

DOL Proposes Another Round of ESG Investing Rules for Plan Fiduciaries

Ballard Spahr LLP on

Summary - The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released Proposed Regulations for plan fiduciaries on the role Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations should play in investment decisions....more

Foley & Lardner LLP

Beware the “ESGs of March” as ESG Regulatory Change Is Afoot

Foley & Lardner LLP on

Three recent developments in relation to ESG related disclosures are of note: (1) on March 10th, the US Department of Labor announced it would not enforce its own rules related to ESG investing, (2) on the same day the EU’s...more

Morgan Lewis

ERISA Fiduciaries Under a Biden Labor Department: What Is on the Horizon?

Morgan Lewis on

President Joe Biden has been in office for 34 days and his nominee for Secretary of Labor, Marty Walsh, has not yet been confirmed. So far, Mr. Walsh has not publicly stated much regarding his views or intended priorities...more

Morgan Lewis

DOL Finalizes ‘Financial Factors’ ERISA Regulation

Morgan Lewis on

The US Department of Labor’s final ERISA regulation generally follows its proposal but without the focus on environmental, social, and governance investing. ...more

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