Artificial intelligence is not just about chatbots. Increasingly, it is used by government for enforcement, and boards need to prepare for that, just as they need to get ready for upcoming climate disclosure requirements....more
5/21/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Capital Markets ,
Climate Change ,
Competition ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Machine Learning ,
Mergers ,
New Rules ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholders ,
Spinoffs ,
Tax-Free Spin-Offs ,
Taxation ,
Technology ,
White Collar Crimes
On March 6, 2024, the SEC adopted new rules mandating climate-related disclosures in public companies’ annual reports and registration statements. As anticipated, the rules are facing multiple legal challenges, which have...more
5/20/2024
/ Board of Directors ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Directors ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s climate-related disclosure rules pose a host of issues for companies. Below are answers from Skadden’s SEC Reporting and Compliance and Environmental Groups to some of the questions...more
4/10/2024
/ Climate Change ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
New Rules ,
Regulation S-K ,
Regulation S-X ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On March 6, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted 3-2 to adopt new rules mandating climate-related disclosures in public companies’ annual reports and registration statements. While the final rules are...more
3/11/2024
/ Business Strategies ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
New Rules ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Regulation S-X ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation
Following another year of increasing focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations by companies, investors and regulators alike, ESG appears to have cemented its position in the corporate landscape...more
2/2/2023
/ Business Plans ,
Business Strategies ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Green Energy ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Sustainability ,
Sustainable Finance
As companies grapple with the business challenges that rising interest rates and an uncertain economic outlook present, there are the inevitable questions about whether companies should worry less about environmental, social...more
12/20/2022
/ Board of Directors ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employees ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Investors ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Shareholders
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations continued to play a key role in the first six months of 2022, with geopolitical circumstances resulting in a reexamination of a number of ESG beliefs. In our 11...more
On March 21, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted 3-1 to propose long-anticipated rules mandating climate-related disclosures in companies’ annual reports and registration statements. The proposed rules...more
3/29/2022
/ Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
New Rules ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Throughout 2021, the importance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters proved to be even greater than many had expected, with ESG becoming a key area of focus for a range of stakeholders, particularly in the...more
Companies have important decisions to make as they prepare for the 2022 annual meeting and reporting season.
We have compiled this overview of key issues — including SEC disclosure requirements, recent SEC guidance,...more
12/8/2021
/ Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Executive Compensation ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Insider Trading ,
MD&A Statements ,
Proxy Advisors ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Proposals
As anticipated, the staff in the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance has begun issuing detailed comments regarding climate-related disclosures.1 In February 2021, then Acting SEC Chair Allison Herren Lee announced that she...more
The rapidly growing focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters that marked 2020 continued to shape events for companies operating or based in the U.K. and Europe in 2021. Discussions of ESG are occurring at...more
9/3/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Green Bonds ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Sustainable Finance ,
UK
In prepared remarks on July 28, 2021, Chair Gary Gensler of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) set forth key considerations for the staff to address in the SEC’s forthcoming rulemaking proposal on mandatory climate...more
In prepared remarks on June 23, 2021, Chair Gary Gensler of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) provided additional insight into the commission’s recently announced regulatory agenda and its shift in priorities. His...more
7/7/2021
/ Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Executive Compensation ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Form S-8 ,
Proxy Season ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Rule 701 ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs)
In a tumultuous year, one of the key clear messages to emerge from 2020 was that environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns are here to stay. As mentioned in our 31 July 2020 article “ESG in 2020: A Half-Year...more
2/9/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Debt Market ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Flexible Work Arrangements ,
Green Bonds ,
Popular ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Remuneration ,
Supply Chain ,
Sustainability
Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) recently announced updates to its U.S. proxy voting guidelines for the 2018 proxy season. Although the updates are not likely to have a significant impact on 2018...more
11/21/2017
/ Board of Directors ,
Climate Change ,
Director Compensation ,
Diversity ,
Executive Compensation ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Pay Gap ,
Pay-for-Performance ,
Pledges ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Say-on-Pay ,
Shareholder Rights ,
Shareholder Votes ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs)