News & Analysis as of

Fiduciary Environmental Social & Governance (ESG)

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

DOL Plans to Replace ESG Rule for Retirement Plan Fiduciaries

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) indicated in court documents that it intends to begin new rulemaking to replace a previous rule that permitted 401(k) plan fiduciaries to consider environmental, social, and governance (ESG)...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

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Do You Really Want to Be an ERISA Fiduciary?

Two recent class action lawsuits charging a breach of fiduciary duty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) have increased the stakes and raised important considerations regarding a plan fiduciary’s duty of...more

Carlton Fields

DOL ESG Rule Withstands Demolition of Chevron Deference

Carlton Fields on

In Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the U.S. Supreme Court knocked down Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council Inc., leaving the doctrine of Chevron deference in rubble. The doctrine stated that, when a...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

That ESG rule will be in the waste basket soon

For 2025, the ESG rule will be history for now. Donald Trump as President will reverse the Department of Labor’s ESG rule that allows retirement plan fiduciaries to consider environmental, social, and governance (ESG)...more

Hall Benefits Law

Fifth Circuit Appears Skeptical of Invalidating ESG Rule Despite the Fall of Chevron

Hall Benefits Law on

A U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit panel appeared skeptical during oral arguments in which conservative states and Texas-based energy interests sought to reverse a district judge’s order upholding an environmental,...more

Mayer Brown

Northern District of Texas Expands Fiduciary Exposure by Permitting ESG Proxy Voting Theory to Go to Trial

Mayer Brown on

Case Name and Number: Spence v. American Airlines, Inc., et al., No. 4:23-cv-00552 - INTRODUCTION - On June 20, 2024, Judge Reed O’Connor in the Northern District of Texas (the “court”) denied a motion for summary...more

Mintz

Biden Administration's DOL Rule Enabling Investment Advisors to Consider ESG Factors Survives Judicial Challenge

Mintz on

On September 21, 2023, Judge Kacsmaryk (N.D. Texas), a famously conservative Trump-appointed jurist, upheld a Department of Labor rule promulgated by the Biden Administration that enables employee retirement plans to consider...more

Nossaman LLP

Federal Court Rejects States’ Challenge to DOL’s ESG Investing Rule

Nossaman LLP on

On September 21, 2023, a federal judge in Texas granted summary judgment in, and thus dismissed, a lawsuit filed by the Attorneys General of 25 states and other interested parties challenging a final rule issued by the U.S....more

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP

ESG in the United States: A complex landscape

The United States is in the process of transitioning ESG disclosure from voluntary, market-led reporting to a regulatory-driven scheme, principally led by the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) anticipated (but...more

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

Half of all States Sue DOL over ESG Rule, Foreshadowing Challenges to the SEC’s ESG Agenda

On January 26, 2023, twenty-five states, plus a publicly traded energy company with a subsidiary that is a fiduciary and trustee under ERISA, a trade association for the oil and gas industry, and a participant in an ERISA...more

Cozen O'Connor

AG Coalition Seeks Injunction Preventing Implementation of Labor Department’s ESG Investment Rule

Cozen O'Connor on

A coalition of 25 Republican AGs announced a lawsuit against the Department of Labor challenging the implementation of a new rule permitting retirement plan fiduciaries to consider environmental, social, and governance (ESG)...more

Seward & Kissel LLP

DOL Publishes Final Rule Regarding ESG Investing and Proxy Voting

Seward & Kissel LLP on

ERISA fiduciaries may consider any factors the fiduciary reasonably determines are relevant to the risk return analysis of an investment, including the economic effects of climate change and other environmental, social, or...more

A&O Shearman

DOL Finalizes ESG Rule for ERISA Plan Fiduciaries

A&O Shearman on

The Department of Labor (the DOL) has released its final rule clarifying how and when ERISA fiduciaries may consider ESG factors in making investment decisions for a plan. The rule also offers substantial guidance on the...more

Kilpatrick

Legal Alert | DOL Opens ESG Door: What Does It Mean for Plan Fiduciaries?

Kilpatrick on

Department of Labor (“DOL”) Secretary Walsh recently announced final regulations in a blog post titled “Removing Barriers to Considering ESG Factors in Retirement Plan Investments.” While the rules open the door to more...more

Foley Hoag LLP

DOL Eases Restrictions on Use of ESG Factors in Retirement Plan Investment Decisions

Foley Hoag LLP on

The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) has issued a final rule (the “Final Rule) addressing how ERISA fiduciaries may consider environmental, social and governmental (ESG) factors in making investment decisions for retirement...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Five Takeaways from the DOL’s Final Rule on Selecting Retirement Plan Investments

The Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule that explicitly allows—but does not require—retirement plan fiduciaries to take climate change and other environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations into...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Investing for Retirement Plans: Where We’ve Been, and Where We Are Now

McDermott Will & Emery on

Over the past year, the regulatory backdrop around environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing has shifted. As McDermott Partner Brian J. Tiemann explains in these slides, the US Department of Labor (DOL) under the...more

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP

Proposed ERISA regulation may facilitate ESG in retirement plans

On October 14, 2021, the US Department of Labor (DOL) proposed changes to ERISA regulations that would again shift the analysis of consideration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in retirement plans...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

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Department of Labor Proposal Would Encourage Consideration of ESG Factors for Plan Investments

On October 13, 2021, the Department of Labor (DOL) released a new proposed regulation under ERISA that would replace the previous administration’s “pecuniary factors” rule – which is widely viewed as discouraging the use of...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Beltway Buzz - October 2021 #3

Congressional Update: Debt Limit Crisis and Reconciliation Plans. Both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives were officially out this week, but the U.S. Congress still made some news....more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Biden Directs DOL to Consider Rescinding Trump-Era Rule on Environmental, Social and Governance Investing

President Biden signed an executive order on May 20 on climate-related financial risk that seeks to change the rules regarding the use of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investments in retirement plans. The order...more

Goodwin

ERISA Litigation Update - April 2021

Goodwin on

Welcome to Goodwin’s ERISA Litigation Update. Litigation involving ERISA-governed benefits plans has exploded in recent years. Lawyers in our award-winning ERISA Litigation practice have extensive experience litigating these...more

Vinson & Elkins LLP

DOL Issues Non-Enforcement Notice For Two Final ESG Investment Rules

Vinson & Elkins LLP on

ERISA plan fiduciaries may be breathing a small sigh of relief this week after the U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) issued a statement on March 10, 2021, that it would not pursue enforcement actions for violations of two...more

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