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Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Enforcement Actions Greenwashing

Latham & Watkins LLP

SEC Withdraws Proposed Rule on ESG Disclosures for Investment Advisers and Investment Companies

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The withdrawal aligns with the SEC’s “back to basics” approach, but it does not preclude scrutiny of ESG in asset managers’ strategies, marketing, and fund documentation....more

Alston & Bird

Sustainability Spotlight | Q4 2024

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Welcome to the latest edition of the Sustainability Spotlight, your place to keep up with all the ESG action – federal and state enforcement, shareholder proposals and litigation, and state attorney general actions. This...more

DLA Piper

Horizon - ESG Regulatory News and Trends, March 2025

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SEC withdraws defense of US climate disclosure rules; Uyeda speaks on ESG and materiality. On March 27, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) notified the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit that the SEC...more

Mintz - Energy & Sustainability Viewpoints

A Quantitative Analysis of Comment Letters Issued by the SEC Concerning Climate Change Disclosures: Further Developments

In June 2023, Mintz published an article entitled “A Quantitative Analysis of Comment Letters Issued by the SEC Concerning Climate Change Disclosures” (the June 2023 Article), which analyzed the comment letters related to...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP

Top 5 SEC Enforcement Developments for October 2024

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Each month, we publish a roundup of the most important SEC enforcement developments for busy in-house lawyers and compliance professionals. This month, we examine: •Accounting fraud charges for allegedly concealing costs; ...more

SEC Compliance Consultants, Inc. (SEC³)

October and November 2024 Regulatory Roundup

After its fiscal year-end frenzy in September, the SEC relaxed slightly, with no new rule-making and fewer enforcement actions. So, I took a break last month and combined the October and November Roundups. (You’re welcome.)...more

Mintz

SEC Imposes $17.5 Million Fine Against Investment Adviser for Greenwashing

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3 On November 8, the SEC and an investment advisor entered into a settlement to resolve an administrative proceeding featuring allegations of greenwashing. Specifically, the investment advisor was alleged to have made...more

Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld LLC

The Pitfalls of “Green Washing”

In a significant development for the investment management industry, a large adviser agreed to pay a hefty $17.5 million civil penalty to settle charges with the SEC over misleading statements about its Environmental, Social,...more

Vinson & Elkins LLP

SEC Charges Invesco Advisers for Making Misleading ESG Claims

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On November 8, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced a settled enforcement action (the “SEC Order”) against Invesco Advisers, Inc. (“Invesco”), an investment advisory firm, for making misleading...more

Mintz - Energy & Sustainability Viewpoints

Energy & Sustainability Litigation Updates — October 2024

The Securities & Exchange Commission has disbanded its Climate & ESG Task Force, which had been launched with great fanfare in March 2021 at the beginning of the Biden administration. However, the Climate & ESG Task Force had...more

Fenwick & West LLP

SEC Charges Coffee Pod Co. Over Recyclability Claims

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On September 10, the SEC charged Keurig with making inaccurate statements regarding the recyclability of K-Cups. According to the SEC’s order, in annual reports for fiscal years 2019 and 2020, Keurig stated that its...more

Mintz

Minnesota Federal Court Says Greenwashing Claims Concerning Consumer Products Can Proceed

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On September 25, 2024, the federal district court in Minnesota denied Target Corp.'s motion to dismiss a consumer-fraud action against it featuring claims that a class of consumers were “deliberately misled [] by [Target]...more

DLA Piper

Horizon - ESG Regulatory News and Trends - September 2024

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Welcome to Horizon, DLA Piper’s regular bulletin reporting on late-breaking legislative and policy developments in ESG. Our aim is to scan the litigation, enforcement, and regulatory horizon to help inform business decisions....more

Mintz

Recent Greenwashing Litigation Focuses on Consumer Products

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Over the past couple of weeks, there have been a pair of greenwashing lawsuits filed--by both private plaintiffs and government regulators--that highlight the current focus on consumer products as a centerpiece of...more

Vinson & Elkins LLP

Cooperation and Compliance: Navigating Artificial Intelligence at the Securities Enforcement Forum

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On May 23, 2024, the Securities Enforcement Forum West debuted its first-ever panel on the impact of artificial intelligence (“AI”) on securities enforcement, regulation, compliance, and practice, signaling an increased focus...more

Mintz

EU Regulators Announce Greenwashing Investigation of 20 Airlines

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The European Commission and EU consumer authorities have sent letters to 20 airlines “identifying several types of potentially misleading green claims,” focusing on “claims made by airlines that the CO2 emissions caused by a...more

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

So You Want to Advertise Your ESG Efforts? Let's Talk.

Your company has an ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) mission. It could be as (seemingly) simple as using renewable energy in production, sourcing eco-friendly materials or, more broadly, coming up with a "more...more

Saul Ewing LLP

Saul on ESG: Trends & Updates (October 2023)

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​This issue of Saul on ESG: Trends & Updates marks our first update tracking the legal trends and developments around environmental, social and governance (ESG). In recent years, we have been tracking and highlighting changes...more

Mintz

Significant ESG Enforcement Action by the SEC Against Major Investment Advisor

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On September 25, 2023, the SEC announced a settled administrative proceeding against a major investment advisor in which it agreed to pay a $19 million civil penalty for, effectively, greenwashing activities--i.e., pretending...more

King & Spalding

ESG and Securities Litigation

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Recent Trends Show Increased Focus on Allegations of "Greenwashing" Over the past few years, regulators, businesses, and the market in general have become increasingly focused on environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”)...more

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer

SEC Charges Investment Adviser for Failing to Adequately Disclose ESG Investment Policies and Procedures

On Nov. 22, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged an investment adviser subsidiary of a major U.S. financial institution with violations of Section 206(4) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (Advisers...more

White and Williams LLP

A Changing Climate: the Rising Tide of ESG Liability and Implications for D&O Coverage

The latest legal buzzword, ESG, represents the environmental, social and governance factors that many corporations are now required to consider and disclose alongside traditional financial information such as operating...more

Foley Hoag LLP - White Collar Law &...

ESG Enforcement Actions Underscore SEC Focus on Public Company and Investment Adviser Disclosure

The formation of SEC Enforcement’s Climate and ESG Task Force last year confirmed that ESG had become one of the agency’s top enforcement priorities, and signaled that an uptick in investigations and enforcement actions...more

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP

SEC ESG crackdown - Investment funds in the crosshairs

As investors have piled into ESG-friendly mutual funds over the past several years, the SEC has begun ratcheting up scrutiny of the representations made by the advisers of those ESG investment funds. This week, the SEC...more

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC

The Not So Green-Friendly Practice of Greenwashing

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As investors, advisers, corporations and other stakeholders become increasingly focused on environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments and disclosures, regulators are becoming increasingly concerned with potential...more

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