With continued focus and scrutiny of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) by governmental authorities, investors, customers, standards bodies, and other stakeholders, our clients are seeking advice and counsel to understand and navigate ESG issues, opportunities and legal risk.
Although the focus on ESG may be greater than ever before, the components that make up ESG are not new. Steptoe lawyers have been advising on governance structures and helping clients manage environmental and societal risks, for many years.
As a firm with a longstanding reputation for solving complex regulatory matters, interacting with and reporting to governmental agencies, internal auditing and investigations, and advising on preventative international corporate compliance, we are particularly well placed to assist clients to respond with confidence to this new challenge, helping clients to manage the legal risks and maximize the opportunities that arise.
Our cross-border and cross-practice group team supports clients in the entire ESG journey. We have the capability to:
- Assist clients in conducting ESG assessments to identify the ESG factors most important and relevant to their business
- Review clients' existing ESG reporting and marketing materials (e.g., annual ESG or sustainability reports, modern slavery statements, supplier codes of conduct) to identify potential risks and areas for refinement
- Develop compliance and reporting processes
- Advise on new proposed mandatory disclosure obligations for climate, cybersecurity, and other ESG-related information
- Counsel on voluntary ESG disclosures and statements to the market, customers, and stakeholders
- Advise on compliance (and related advocacy, as appropriate) with regard to ESG-related proposals, laws, regulations, trade agreement text, and other instruments affecting supply chains, including border measures, emissions trading schemes, tax credits, anti-forced labor policies, standards, anti-deforestation measures, procurement policy, and supply chain sustainability due diligence measures
- Conduct due diligence assessments of corporate supply chains, and provide advice on how to reduce risk, and improve security, sustainability, and resilience
- Defend against "greenwashing" and securities law claims, and provide advice to clients to reduce litigation risk ex ante
- Advise on ESG-driven regulatory investigations and congressional inquiries
- Assist clients on compliance with antitrust laws while entering in any sustainability-focused co-operation agreements
Steptoe lawyers have experience in a wide range of ESG factors including:
- Climate change risk management, decarbonization programs and greenhouse gas emissions reporting
- Environmental impact on communities and environmental justice
- Water resource use, scarcity and quality
- Hazardous materials and sustainable chemistries
- Resource use, safe and sustainable products, advertising claims, and the circular economy
- Board structure, composition and executive compensation
- Data privacy and cybersecurity
- Risk management (including management of ESG risks)
- Stockholder rights
- Corporate reporting and mandatory ESG disclosures
Representative Matters
Environmental Compliance, Including Mitigating Greenwashing Threats
- Representing numerous clients in the chemicals sector in regulatory engagements on the sustainability of their chemistries, advocating a science-led approach to sustainable chemistry.
- Advising on contracting structures for carbon reduction and corporate offsetting projects.
- Counselling brands and retailers on green claims for products; successfully defending the developer of a new recycling technology from an investigation into 'greenwashing' for 'recycling' claims.
Greenhouse Emissions/CBAM
- Representing a global manufacturing business on its engagement with governmental authorities for errors discovered in the calculation and mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions.
- Advising an energy client on exposure to climate change risk from the supply chain and supporting a review of supply chain greenhouse gas emissions.
- Providing legal support for companies seeking market access for clean technologies and sustainable products, including greener fuels, alternative refrigerant gases, and recycled materials.
- Advising on contracting structures for carbon reduction and corporate offsetting projects.
- Assisting one of the top 50 largest private companies in the US in conducting an ESG assessment focused on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
- Provided a Fortune 50 company a trade and climate analysis with respect to four countries to enable the client to select the optimal suppliers for its steel and aluminum needs in the US. The analysis covered Paris Agreement commitments, current and projected climate-related regulatory regimes, the carbon intensity of steel and aluminum production processes, and geopolitical factors.
- Assisted a large company in the renewable energy sector in development and execution a legal, policy and advocacy strategy to strengthen their low carbon US supply chain and promote re-shoring and friend-shoring.
- Provided a government with a comprehensive analysis on possible U.S. legislative and regulatory climate measures, including: likely components of such measures; a comparison of the measures on a host of factors, such as WTO consistency, administrability, and likely trade impacts; potential pathways to enactment; the politics of climate in the United States; and options to mitigate the possible impacts.
Employment-Related Audits
- Conducting an assessment for a global financial institution on workplace culture issues.
- Representing clients in connection with audits and investigations by US regulators into alleged hiring discrimination.
Forced Labor
- Advised a major US retailer on forced labor compliance, XUAR-related WROs, detention risks, related sanctions and export control risks, and the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA).
- Advised a multinational conglomerate of cross-industry luxury brands on forced labor compliance, including civil and criminal penalties under Section 307 and related statutes and implementing regulations, as well as under trade controls and sanctions regulations.
- Advised a government client on forced labor considerations, including criteria for designation, options for challenging a designation, and methodology for securing release of goods that have been withheld.
- Assisted a fashion group in relation to EU supply chain due diligence initiatives and EU guidelines for voluntary measures in this context, specifically focused on forced labor issues.
- Drafted and reviewed forced labor certifications and supplier questionnaires.
- Advised a large manufacturer to help document the absence of forced labor in a company's supply chain.
ESG-Driven Litigation
- Defended numerous clients in individual and class action litigation alleging greenwashing.
News & Publications
Press Releases
March 14, 2024
Client Alerts
March 8, 2024
Media Mentions
Associated Press Quotes Coy Garrison in Article About SEC's New Climate Rule
March 7, 2024
Client Alerts
ESG and Sustainability: Key Considerations in the EU and the UK in 2024
January 22, 2024
By: Ruxandra Cana, Eva Monard, Eléonore Mullier, Alexandra Melia, Zoe Osborne, Byron Maniatis
Client Alerts
Regulatory Landscape in the EU and the UK: Key Considerations in 2024
January 22, 2024
By: Renato Antonini, Eva Monard, Byron Maniatis, Yongqing Bao, Elli Zachari, Ruxandra Cana, Eléonore Mullier, Alexandra Melia, Zoe Osborne, Guy Soussan, Anne-Gabrielle Haie, Maria Avramidou, Charles Whiddington, Yumiko Takahashi, Zanda Romata, Darren Abrahams, Tom Gillett, Roman Spangenberg, Jonathon Egerton-Peters, Michael Lee
Media Mentions
October 25, 2023
Publications
ESG Around the World: European Union
October 2, 2023
By: Eva Monard, Charles Whiddington, Zanda Romata, Byron Maniatis
Events
Seminars & Events
Advertising and Consumer Protection Legal Forum
May 9, 2024
Speakers: Joan Baughan, Eric Berman, Daniel Blynn, Ruxandra Cana, Tod Cohen, Christopher R. Fredrich, Surya Kundu, Joseph McClure, Stephen J. Newman, Jeff Potts, Jennifer Quinn-Barabanov, Daniel C. Rubenstein, Julia B. Strickland, Emily Tifft
Webinars
How to Tell Your Sustainability Story Without Greenwashing—or Greenhushing All Together
October 25, 2023
Speaker: Eric Berman
Seminars & Events
Global Trade and Enforcement Symposium in Hong Kong
June 1, 2023
Speakers: Renato Antonini, Yongqing Bao, Brigida Benitez, Brian G. Burke, Ali Burney, Henry Cao, John Caracappa, Boyd Cloern, Robyn C. Crowther, Brian J. Fleming, Coy Garrison, Stacie R. Hartman, Zoey Hong, Stanley C. Kuo, Amy J. Lentz, Michelle L. Levin, Patrick F. Linehan, Lucinda A. Low, Jamie Lucia, Alexandra Melia, Cáitrín McKiernan, Eva Monard, Darryl Nirenberg, Gwendolyn Prothro Renigar, Angus Rodger, Guy Soussan, David M. Stetson, Grace Wang, Philip R. West, Charles Whiddington, Wendy Wysong, Lin Yang, Bo Yue, Wilson Zhao
Webinars
Federal Reshoring Initiatives in the US
December 15, 2022
Speakers: Paul R. Hurst, Jeffrey G. Weiss, Lisa M. Zarlenga
Webinars
Forced Labor Initiatives in the US and EU
October 13, 2022
Speakers: Byron Maniatis, Eva Monard, Jeffrey G. Weiss