Our Corporate Social Responsibility attorneys keep tabs on breaking news within the industry and analyze new legislation and regulations that impact companies. Read industry happenings below, starting with the most recent news first, and follow our blog to stay informed.
Note: The information contained on this page does not constitute legal advice and reading the information does not automatically start an attorney-client relationship.
October 2021
The Nutrition for Growth Summit’s Business Constituency Group called on food and beverage companies to make stronger commitments on nutrition, including signing up to the Responsible Business Pledge for Better Nutrition.
CSR Europe sits down with Gonzalo Juárez de la Rasilla, Head of Sustainability Stakeholders Engagement at Enel, to discuss opportunities to use sustainable finance to support the transition to a more climate-friendly economy.
Passive exchange traded investment funds may be doing more harm than good by “greenwashing” their sustainable investments.
According to the International Monetary Fund, investors, policymakers, and companies must do more to avoid “greenwashing” and meet the scale of green investment needed to fight climate change.
KPMG announced plans to spend $1.5 billion USD over the next three years to implement its Environmental, Social and Governance strategic agenda.
September 2021
A new report from the Business and Human Rights Resource Center examines how Investor-State Dispute Settlement clauses in international agreements could make it more difficult to hold corporations accountable for human rights violations.
August 2021
The U.S. Department of Justice recently announced a False Claims Act settlement involving a private equity firm’s investment in a health care company. The case highlights the trend towards increased scrutiny of private investors’ actions with respect to their portfolio companies, and the importance of not only conducting robust due diligence reviews, but also quickly acting to remedy any improprieties discovered during such reviews.
July 2021
A McKinsey & Company study weighs the trade-offs between different approaches to sustainable packaging, offering tips on how companies can decide how to prioritize the sometimes conflicting goals of carbon footprints, recyclability, and waste reduction.
In a two-part report, the Center for Strategic & International Studies examines the human rights risks in the development and use of Facial Recognition Technology. Part I of the report examines the role of businesses in protecting human rights, offering suggestions for how firms can change business practices to align with international human rights standards.
June 2021
The Supreme Court issued a ruling declining to apply the Alien Tort Statute in a lawsuit against two U.S. companies which alleges that the companies aided and abetted human trafficking of children to work on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast. The defendant companies did not own or operate the cocoa farms but did provide technical and financial resources to the farms as part of an exclusive purchase agreement. The decision shows the continued importance of effective CSR throughout the supply chains of multinational corporations, given the lack of legal recourse available to trafficked laborers.
Early results from Delta Airlines’ annual meeting show a majority of its shareholders voted in favor of a climate change related proposal that would compel the company to disclose information about its lobbying activity related to climate change.
