The Latest

  • Mark Toshiro Uyeda testifies at a Senate hearing.
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    Tasos Katopodis via Getty Images
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    Acting SEC chair asks court not to schedule climate rule arguments

    “The Commission’s briefs previously submitted in the cases consolidated in the Eighth Circuit do not reflect my views,” Acting Chair Mark Uyeda said.

  • The HSBC sign and logo pictured outside a bank branch.
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    Matt Cardy via Getty Images
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    HSBC taps global banking executive for chief sustainability officer role

    Julian Wentzel — previously HSBC’s head of global banking for the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey — becomes sustainability chief after serving as interim CSO.

  • Roger Garbey (top) and Andres Hernandez, from the Goldin Solar company, install a solar panel system on the roof of a home a day after the Trump administration announced it will impose duties of as mu
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    Joe Raedle via Getty Images
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    EPA funding freeze endangers $7B Solar For All program

    “We don't know how much money got out the door, we don't know how much money the administration can seek to claw back,” said Vote Solar’s executive director, Sachu Constantine.

  • New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin speaks at a lectern.
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    Courtesy of Office of New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin
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    New Jersey judge dismisses state’s climate lawsuit against major oil companies

    A state superior court judge ruled that New Jersey’s climate-related claims were preempted by federal law as state law cannot govern disputes over the impact of climate change.

  • Google, Chrome, Mehta, DOJ, antitrust
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    Justin Sullivan via Getty Images
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    Google moves away from aspirational diversity hiring goals

    This move is on par with what attorneys have been recommending in a tense political landscape around DEI and compliance.

  • A large building with a ref roof is flanked by two square buildings in front of it. Two flags on flagpoles stand in the foreground.
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    Michael M. Santiago via Getty Images
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    Deep Dive

    US state legislatures take aim at fashion’s sustainability and safety concerns

    The new regulations are designed to protect workers, consumers and the environment, but there are still hurdles to face between passing the bills and implementing them.

  • Google
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    Michael M. Santiago via Getty Images
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    Google contracts over $100M in carbon removal credits in 2024

    “We’re encouraged by our progress, but the journey to catalyze carbon removal is just beginning,” Google Carbon Credits and Removals Lead Randy Spock said.

  • Person carries yellow bag with Lego logo.
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    Spencer Platt via Getty Images
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    Lego to increase solar capacity by 72% this year to cut emissions

    The Danish toymaker calls solar expansion a “key initiative” to help meet its sustainability goals, which include achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

  • President Donald Trump holds up an executive order while two officials look on.
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    Christopher Furlong via Getty Images
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    Opinion

    ‘A clarion call’: How employers should respond to Trump’s private-sector DEI order

    Beyond clearly illegal practices like using preferences and quotas, employers need to dig into their DEI programs to see where the potential for other legal challenges might lie, writes Jonathan Segal, partner at Duane Morris.

  • Wildfire smoke casts a haze over the National Mall.
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    Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
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    Developments driving the ESG, sustainability industry in 2025

    The change in U.S. presidential leadership has triggered drawbacks of ESG and DEI commitments, as the private sector braces for a change in political direction.

  • Snow seen melting in front of the New York State Capitol building.
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    Matthew Cavanaugh via Getty Images
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    New York reintroduces bills seeking climate risk, emissions disclosures

    Senate Bills 3456 and 3697, if approved, would mandate climate-related disclosures from large companies operating in the Empire State as early as 2027.

  • The dome of the U.S. Capitol Building as seen at dawn.
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    Win McNamee via Getty Images
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    Clean energy stakeholders descend on Capitol to lobby for IRA tax credits

    Groups participating in the lobbying blitz in Washington, D.C. represent over 2,000 companies and hundreds of billions of dollars in private investment, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

  • Four people's faces above the words "Beauty & Belonging."
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    Courtesy of Sephora
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    Sephora boosts DEI with new documentary

    As others back away from DEI initiatives, the retailer said its film “reaffirms its commitment to fostering a world of inspiration and inclusion.”

  • Wall Street sign with U.S. flags in background
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    lucky-photographer via Getty Images
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    ESG encountering widening ‘gulf’ between US and European investors: Morningstar

    “We are definitely seeing a widening gap … between asset manager support for environmental and social-related voting initiatives," Morningstar Sustainalytics’ director of investment stewardship research said.

  • outside counsel, law firms
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    Violeta Stoimenova via Getty Images
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    Companies reduce philanthropy aimed at boosting racial, gender equality

    Change in “corporate citizenship” initiatives coincide with a federal backlash against efforts to promote sustainability in the private and public sectors.

  • CEO leads a discussion among executives at the company
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    Caiaimage/Caiaimage/Robert Daly via Getty Images
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    Vanguard dilutes diversity guidelines for US board proxy voting

    The updated policies exclude a recommendation that boards “at a minimum, represent diversity of personal characteristics, inclusive of at least diversity in gender, race and ethnicity.”

  • A man in a blue suit speaks while gesturing with his hands.
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    Kayla Bartkowski via Getty Images
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    Senate confirms Liberty Energy CEO Chris Wright as DOE secretary

    Wright aims to expand U.S. power supplies — including renewable energy — to help lower electricity prices, he said during his Senate confirmation hearing.

  • DEI, Fisher Phillips, Latham & Watkins
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    James Sullivan via Getty Images
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    Meta’s HR changes reflect widely touted aspirational approach to DEI

    Eliminating hard inclusivity goals won’t protect against reverse discrimination complaints but it will help, legal specialists say.

  • The Wall Street sign in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City.
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    hapabapa via Getty Images
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    Deep Dive

    Why climate alliance memberships are no longer ‘en vogue’ for Wall Street

    Financial institutions have increasingly departed groups like the Net-Zero Banking Alliance and Climate Action 100+, but experts say banks are still committed to sustainability.

  • Group of executives looking over finances
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    AmnajKhetsamtip via Getty Images
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    Republican officials urge SEC, DOL to adopt anti-ESG, DEI rules

    The letter signed by 22 Republican state finance officials cited American Airlines’ recent legal loss as evidence that fiduciaries are breaching their duty to loyalty with regards to ESG and DEI.

  • Scott Bessent testifies before the Senate Finance Committee.
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    Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
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    Treasury Department exits global regulatory climate coalition

    The Treasury’s Federal Insurance Office withdrew from the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System last week to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive orders.

  • A ship is seen on a sparkling ocean with offshore wind turbines in the background.
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    Permission granted by Bob Brewer/Unsplash
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    Trump’s executive orders cause hesitation, confusion for clean energy developers

    “There are daily developments, and I think people are just doing the best they can with the limited information we have at the moment,” said Felisa Sanchez, a partner with law firm K&L Gates.

  • A wind turbine near a fossil fuel power plant in Massachusetts
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    Maudib via Getty Images
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    Banks improving clean energy finance ratios, still well-short of net-zero pace: report

    “The ratio isn’t evolving at the pace needed to hit the 4:1 level required this decade under commonly referenced scenarios to limit climate change to 1.5 [degrees Celsius],” according to BloombergNEF.

  • People walking past and into a store.
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    Daphne Howland/ESG Dive
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    Target ends some DEI initiatives, reiterates commitment to belonging and inclusion

    Chief Community Impact and Equity Officer Kiera Fernandez cited “the importance of staying in step with the evolving external landscape.”

  • Lee Zeldin sits at a desk
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    Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images
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    Zeldin is confirmed as the new EPA administrator. What’s next?

    The former New York representative will helm the agency as it navigates executive orders pausing climate programs and reviews pending regulations that could affect the waste and recycling industries.

    Updated Jan. 30, 2025