Last week, Texas v. BlackRock (E.D. Tex.), the first antitrust case challenging climate collaborations by financial institutions, reached an initial resolution. Texas Attorney General (“AG”) Ken Paxton announced that one of three institutional-investor defendants, Vanguard, had settled. As part of the settlement, Vanguard pledged not to “direct” its portfolio companies’ […]
ESG
3 posts
A now-familiar playbook for climate-denying state attorneys general is to launch burdensome investigations of climate-minded corporate enterprises based on inchoate antitrust claims (often conspicuously lacking a profit motive for the alleged antitrust violations). These enforcement tactics crystallize two challenges for corporate climate initiatives seeking to steer clear of antitrust liability. […]
The federal Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a final rule on Tuesday, November 22, allowing plan fiduciaries to consider climate change and other environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) characteristics when they choose investments and exercise shareholder rights, reversing a Trump-era rule that sought to constrain this type of risk […]