USDA tells digester funding applicants to remove diversity, climate language

The announcement means federal funding for anaerobic digesters on dairy farms could be unpaused for applicants willing to change project language.

By Jacob Wallace • April 9, 2025

Institutional Shareholder Services subsidiary launches sustainability bond ratings

The ratings aim to address investors’ “need for comparative insights on the material sustainability risks and opportunities” of green, social and sustainability bonds, ISS Stoxx’s head of ESG said.

By Lamar Johnson • April 8, 2025

Shareholder advocacy targets flexible packaging, reusables and recycling labels

Coca-Cola, Hyatt, Sealed Air, Starbucks and Wyndham recently reached agreements with shareholder advocates. Proposals remain pending at Amazon, Home Depot, Kraft Heinz, Mondelēz, PepsiCo and Wendy’s.

By Cole Rosengren • April 8, 2025

Dutch investor AIP Management invests $500M in US solar producer

AIP will invest half a billion dollars in Silicon Ranch, a full-service solar company and one of the largest U.S. independent power producers.

By Lamar Johnson • April 7, 2025

Women’s trade organization granted temporary restraining order in DOL, Trump DEI case

President Donald Trump failed to properly define DEI in his Jan. 20 and Jan. 21 executive orders, Chicago Women in Trades claimed, thus putting its funding at risk.

By Caroline Colvin • April 7, 2025

EU parliament votes to ‘stop the clock’ on sustainability reporting

The European Parliament voted Thursday to delay reporting timelines for the bloc’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.

By Lamar Johnson • April 4, 2025

German prosecutors slap $27M greenwashing fine on Deutsche Bank’s DWS

The Frankfurt Public Prosecutor said statements made by DWS about being an “ESG leader” or ESG being an integral part of its "DNA” did not paint a true picture.

By Zoya Mirza • April 4, 2025

Ford asks investors to vote down supply chain emissions proposal

Shareholder Green Century Capital Management wants the automaker to regularly disclose its strategies for meeting low-carbon steel benchmarks, among others.

By Haley Cawthon • April 4, 2025

Meta signs 10-year forestry-based carbon offtake deal

In “one of the first known contracts” like it, forest investment and management firm EFM will deliver 676,000 nature-based credits as 68,000 acres of forest transition to climate-smart management.

By Lamar Johnson • April 3, 2025

Amex says it stopped using diversity goals to set pay last year

A conservative legal group filed a proposal stating the company should do away with such incentives, but the company said it already shifted away from that practice.

By Patrick Cooley • April 3, 2025

Tennessee ends Wells Fargo probe after bank scraps net-zero target

The state's attorney general commended Wells Fargo’s “pro-consumer decision to step away from utopian policymaking." Seventeen other states had joined the probe.

By Rajashree Chakravarty • April 2, 2025

OCC ends climate risk guidance for large banks

The Office of the Comptroller of Currency withdrew guidance to help financial institutions managing over $100 billion in total assets identify and manage financial risks related to climate change.

By Zoya Mirza • April 1, 2025

European Council adopts proposal to delay sustainability reporting

The European Parliament has set an April 1 vote for the “stop the clock” measure, which would officially delay reporting deadlines for the bloc’s corporate sustainability laws.

By Lamar Johnson • March 31, 2025

SEC withdraws defense of climate-risk disclosure rule

The agency will no longer defend its rule requiring companies to disclose certain climate-related risks, a move one commissioner called an attempt to “unlawfully” dismantle the rule.

By Lamar Johnson • March 28, 2025

ING becomes first global bank with SBTi-validated targets

The bank set targets to reduce its scope 1 and scope 2 emissions for 2030, as well as portfolio targets related to its fossil fuel financing.

By Lamar Johnson • March 27, 2025

Google announces four sustainability partnerships aimed at water stewardship, farming

The projects build on Google’s target to restore the volume of freshwater consumed across its offices and data centers, on average, by 120% by 2030.

By Zoya Mirza • March 27, 2025

JLL acquires renewable energy banking firm Javelin Capital

The global commercial real estate firm said the acquisition will “significantly enhance” the company’s capabilities in the U.S. energy and infrastructure markets.

By Lamar Johnson • March 26, 2025

Disney shareholders vote to remain in embattled LGBTQ+ ranking

Only 1% of shareholders voted in favor of stepping back from the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index.

By Caroline Colvin • March 26, 2025

Amazon launches carbon credit service through sustainability hub

The credits will be available to its U.S. supply chain partners, enterprise customers and Climate Pledge signatories with certain emissions reporting, net-zero targets and decarbonization strategies.

By Lamar Johnson • March 25, 2025

How fashion leaders are thinking about tariffs, textile sustainability

Companies should focus on smart sourcing and responsible manufacturing in response to fluctuating tariffs, per Stephen Lamar, president and CEO of the American Apparel and Footwear Association.

By Laurel Deppen • March 25, 2025

EEOC outlines how DEI might be ‘unlawful’

Documents outlining discrimination related to “DEI at work” have prompted attorneys to say that employers should re-evaluate their DEI programs now.

By Caroline Colvin • March 24, 2025

JPMorgan rebrands DEI, leaves Net-Zero Asset Managers initiative

The bank said it will swap “equity” for “opportunity” in its DEI policy and that it left NZAM due to the net-zero group’s operational pause.

By Lamar Johnson • March 24, 2025

Federal judge blocks EPA’s $14B GGRF funding freeze

The EPA “proffered no evidence to support their basis for the sudden terminations, or that they followed the proper procedures,” said U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan. 

By Diana DiGangi • March 24, 2025

BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street seek dismissal of red states’ coal antitrust suit

The asset managers said the Republican-led states offered “no plausible facts” to support the claim that the three firms conspired to collectively cut coal production in the U.S.

By Lamar Johnson • March 21, 2025

CARB asked to implement California’s climate disclosure laws, align with global standards

Ceres asked the California Air Resources Board to support climate laws to “help deliver standardized, high-quality disclosures of companies’ climate related financial risks.”

By Zoya Mirza • March 21, 2025