The U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) on October 30, 2020 released a final regulation (the “Final Regulation”) relating to the consideration of non-pecuniary factors by fiduciaries of employee benefit plans (“Plans”) that are subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”). The Final Regulation is expected to have a pointed impact on the use of environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) factors in the context of investment decisions. We previously discussed the DOL’s regulatory initiative regarding ESG in our June 2020 OnPoint titled An ESGciting Development - Proposed Regulation on ESG Considerations Under ERISA, which discussed the DOL’s proposed regulation regarding the consideration of ESG factors (the “Proposed Regulation”).
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