The government has responded to parliamentary calls for tougher action on forced labour, but its plans stop short of major legislative reform. Analysis from Richard Reichman, partner, and Christina Josephides, senior associate, at BCL Solicitors in London.
The government has responded to parliamentary calls for tougher action on forced labour, but its plans stop short of major legislative reform. Analysis from Richard Reichman, partner, and Christina Josephides, senior associate, at BCL Solicitors in London.
The Brazilian president has attempted to remove many of the more contentious elements of the law – which campaigners have called “the biggest legislative environmental setback since the dictatorship” – but the fate of the legislation remains in the hands of the opposition-dominated congress.
The European Commission has proposed a major revamp of how the EU funds climate and environmental action – combining biodiversity with broader environmental priorities in its latest budget plan.
At a Simmons & Simmons panel, Holland & Knight partner Meaghan Hembree said that Trump’s ESG rollback is fuelling state-level divergence, regulatory uncertainty and rising litigation – demanding sharper compliance strategies from companies operating in the US.
A report by law professor Elisa Morgera, the UN special rapporteur on human rights and climate change, urges governments to take wide-ranging measures to safeguard human rights from the effects of climate change – from criminalising greenwashing to prioritising the phaseout of fossil use and production.
Hogan Lovells partner Valerie Kenyon and senior associate Olivier Swain in London examine the ESG-focused regulatory challenges faced by data centres operators in the EU and UK.
The Corporate Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence Bill is the first legislative initiative focusing on human rights and the environment under the new government – which has stated its intention to focus on corporate sustainability.
The United Arab Emirates’ new legislation introduces mandatory emissions reporting, climate risk disclosure and third-party verification requirements, together with fines for non-compliance. Greenpeace calls the new regime “transformative”.
African businesses are likely to be widely affected by new EU corporate disclosure rules on human rights and sustainability, write partner Kate Paterson and associate Sibongile Sibeko at Bowmans in Johannesburg – and may face serious consequences if they fail to act.
With 29 ratifications of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Treaty so far, the United Nations has almost half the countries needed for the treaty to enter into force at the United Nations Ocean Conference in June.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s proposed text for the forthcoming budget reconciliation bill slashes scores of environmental and clean energy measures.
Changes to the EU CSDDD should not jeopardise alignment with international standards on responsible business conduct or create blind spots where human rights abuses go undetected and unaddressed, says the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
“From an employer's perspective, the main issues are going to be toilets, changing facilities, pronouns and data collection,” says Andrew Taggart, partner at Herbert Smith Freehills. He spoke with Forward Law Review about the implications of the controversial decision on gender definition.
The US Chamber of Commerce complains that the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive will require large US companies to “meet overly prescriptive human rights and environmental due diligence requirements that conflict with US federal and state laws.”
The US litigation boutique, which represented Dominion Voting Systems in its successful US$787.5 million defamation suit against Fox News, says it will fight the order.
A newly formed coalition between the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats says it supports the European Commission’s Omnibus and will implement the CSDDD in a way that is minimally bureaucratic and easy to enforce.
Amid volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, law firms worldwide must prepare to navigate a complex web of strategic risks, writes Robert F van Beemen, partner at DRB in the Hague and chair of the IBA’s Law Firm Management ESG Subcommittee.
Companies that integrated ESG teams into complaint responses often engaged more constructively – emphasising long-term reputational and operational benefits over short-term legal risk mitigation, writes Sheri Meyerhoffer, Canada’s former Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise.
A letter signed by bar associations around the world says they are “dismayed by the recent actions by the US government targeting legal professionals at both the international and domestic levels, which violate international human rights law and undermine the rule of law.”
The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has written to 20 of the world’s biggest law firms demanding information about their DEI employment practices, saying: “No one is above the law – and certainly not the private bar.”
Paul Weiss is the third law firm to be targeted by President Trump, who accuses it of hiring an “unethical attorney” and discriminating against its own employees through its DEI policies. Trump’s executive order implied more firms may be sanctioned.
The US Department of Education is looking into potential violations of the 1964 Civil Rights Act caused by colleges offering race-based scholarships and networking opportunities.
“Given the First Amendment’s protection of a university’s freedom to determine its own curriculum, and how to deliver it, the constitutional violation behind this threat is clear,” says the dean of Georgetown Law in response to a letter demanding the elimination of all DEI from the school and its curriculum.
“Racism has no place in Missouri,” says state AG as he claims customers pay higher prices and wait longer because of “race-and-sex-based hiring practices” that violate the state’s Human Rights Act.
The City of Riviera Beach Police Pension Fund is suing the retailer for allegedly misleading investors with policies that led to widespread customer boycotts following its 2023 Pride campaign.
Although the narrative of Argentina’s current administration is aligned with the ESG backlash movement, the country’s ESG regulatory landscape has not significantly changed since President Milei took office, writes María Victoria Tuculet, a financial services and ESG partner at Bomchil in Buenos Aires.
Ten state attorneys general, led by Ken Paxton in Texas, have threatened six of the biggest US financial institutions with legal action, suggesting that “race- and sex-based quotas” may violate federal and state laws.
Amid allegations that companies with well-documented links to Uyghur slave labour are “dumping” their goods in the UK, the government says that it is taking steps to revisit the country’s decade-old Modern Slavery law - and has launched a new inquiry.
“An immediate end to business as usual is a precondition for planetary survival”: Ireland’s High Court quashes a planning authority decision to refuse the development of a windfarm. With comment from Alan Roberts at A&L Goodbody.
Over the last five years, the incidence of environmental, social and governance (ESG)-related litigation involving retirement funds globally has grown about 100% per year, writes David Geral, partner at Bowmans in Johannesburg. In South Africa, it is no longer a question of if, but when, the first retirement fund will face litigation.
The European Banking Authority says its new guidelines, effective 11 January 2026, will “contribute to ensuring the safety and soundness of institutions as ESG risks intensify and the EU transitions towards a more sustainable economy”.
The deadline for EU member states to transpose the Gender Balance on Corporate Boards Directive fell at the end of 2024 – but 12 jurisdictions failed to meet it.
The Australian government intends to introduce penalties for non-compliance as it pledges to act on 25 of the recommendations made by a report on the 2018 Modern Slavery Act – but has declined to lower the revenue threshold to A$50 million. With commentary by Amanda Lyras at Clayton Utz.
The regulation, which aims to combat forced labour in supply chains both in the EU and externally, has been published in the EU’s Official Journal and will apply from 14 December 2027.
The government failed to fully assess the impact of its energy plans upon the rights of current and future generations of children – and therefore acted unlawfully, a court has ruled. With analysis from Chandni Gopal, partner at Webber Wentzel in Johannesburg.
A KPMG survey on sustainability reporting found that while 80% of all corporations use materiality assessments, larger companies are more likely to use double materiality processes that assess their impact on society and the environment – and how this affects their financial performance.
The new rules ensure oversight by the European Securities and Markets Authority and aim for greater consistency and transparency in rating ESG products across the European Union.
From client demand to climate risks: Linklaters’ sustainability director Matt Sparkes explains why the firm wants to prove it’s a responsible business.
Oil company Shell has won a significant victory after a Dutch appeals court found the company could not be compelled to make a 45% cut to its carbon emissions by 2030.
Companies and government bodies escape fines despite late submissions and variable progress in the milestone report mandated by Canada’s modern slavery law.
Friends of the Earth forces the UK government into a legal battle in the High Court, arguing that it is in breach of its own laws on climate change adaptation.
Under pressure from companies struggling to comply with the country’s Supply Chain Due Diligence Act, the German government has announced plans to reduce the burden on two-thirds of companies affected by it.
A second round of negotiations with member states has succeeded where the first failed: the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive will finally come into force on 26 July 2024.
