Cynthia Hanawalt

16 posts
Cynthia Hanawalt is the Director of Climate Finance and Regulation at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law.

The Anti-ESG Movement Has Not Fared Well in Court, but Critical Decisions Are Pending

The Republican-led “anti-ESG” (environmental, social, governance) movement over the last two years has largely been a legislative effort, comprised primarily of state-level bills that attempt to halt the consideration of climate risk and other commonplace factors in investment decisions connected with government funds, contracts, and pensions. Hundreds of these proposals […]

The SEC’s Climate Disclosure Rule Will Reveal Healthcare’s Significant Climate Risk Exposure

Though it has been largely ignored by the healthcare industry thus far, and unmentioned by Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) climate disclosure rule may prove to be one of the most consequential healthcare regulations in US history. Healthcare investors are particularly interested […]

Recommendations to Update the Antitrust Guidelines for Competitor Collaborations

Today, the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment jointly published a new report: Recommendations to Update the FTC and DOJ’s Guidelines for Collaboration Among Competitors. The guidelines help firms understand the antitrust principles and boundaries of any collaborations they may undertake with other […]

The SEC’s Final Climate Disclosure Rule: Interrogating Preemption and Coherence with Other Domestic Regimes

Now that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has released its final climate disclosure rule, attention has turned to the rule’s implementation and impact. This post is the third in a series of blogs that address specific legal features of the rule: Part One offers a summary of the final […]

The SEC’s Final Climate Disclosure Rule: Pathways for Improving the “Floor”

In the March 6th vote to approve the SEC’s final climate disclosure rule, the Commissioners split along party lines, with the rule passing by a 3-2 vote. It received a scathing review from Commissioners Peirce and Uyeda, both of whom suggested that the SEC should have re-proposed a new rule, […]

The SEC’s Final Climate Disclosure Rule: Key Requirements, and the Materiality Threshold

Nearly two years and 24,000 public comments after its proposal, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released its final climate disclosure rule last week, formally titled “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors.” The rule expands public companies’ disclosure requirements to include certain greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data […]

The SEC’s Final Climate Disclosure Rule Must Respond to Emerging Legal Risks

It has been more than a year and a half since the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed its climate-related disclosure rule. In the interim, lawsuits in the ESG and regulatory space have constricted the SEC’s path to promulgating a final rule that will survive judicial review. This blog post […]