ESG/Sustainability

Once again leveraging its position as the world’s third largest economy, the EU continues to lead the world in protecting the global environment. The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which became effective on June 29, 2023, will impact agricultural, forestry and business practices around the world.

The 1975 summer movie Jaws portrayed a suburban New York beach community that recoiled from the assault of a voracious great white shark. Although the film was a work of fiction, a shark (in reality) seriously injured a swimmer last week near a New York City beach. It was the latest shark attack to strike the Big Apple during the…

The Fighting Against Forced Labor and Child Labor in Supply Chains Act was enacted on May 3, 2023, and becomes effective in January 2024. It requires in-scope companies and all government organizations in Canada to provide annual reports on how they manage forced labor/child labor risks – in their own operations and their product supply chains.

The Opening Ceremony’s Parade of Nations may prove to be the most unique event of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Instead of situating the event in a stadium, the Olympic Committee will place the athletes on boats and send them down the River Seine.

Over 1500 cases have been filed in courts around the world seeking relief from climate change. These cases have been based on various legal theories. A recent, highly unusual theory is that such rights are grounded in a state’s constitution. This constitutional theory has successfully argued in four noteworthy cases, one in Montana, the second in the Netherlands, the third…

Do you remember George Orwell’s classic novel Animal Farm? In that fable of a farm that is managed by its own livestock, the pigs become the leaders of the rural community. Although that didn’t quite occur last week, a pig protection law did manage to survive a Supreme Court decision that may impact the future of sustainability regulation.

California is enacting two mandatory climate disclosure laws –  together called the California Climate Accountability Package. They have been passed in both chambers of the state legislature and now are awaiting the Governor’s signature.

In the 2004 film The Day After Tomorrow, a trio of meteorological “super storms” triggers a global descent into a second Ice Age. How much time do the storms need to destroy the planet? A few days to a week is all they require to wreak havoc on the world.