Insights

Washington – August 15, 2024: The 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® has recognized 42 Crowell & Moring lawyers as "Best Lawyers" and 29 lawyers as “Ones to Watch.”

Washington – July 15, 2024: Crowell & Moring secured a victory on behalf of the National Mining Association in a longstanding dispute over a regulation governing mining on federal land.

Washington – August 17, 2023: The 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® has recognized 47 firm lawyers as "Best Lawyers" and 41 lawyers as “Ones to Watch.”

On November 8, 2024 the SEC announced a settled enforcement action against Invesco Advisers, Inc. for making misleading statements about its integration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into the firm’s investment decisions. Invesco agreed to pay a $17.5 million civil penalty to settle the matter. This enforcement action makes it clear that, even though the SEC dissolved its ESG Task Force, the Commission continues to monitor firms’ statements and representations for misleading statements about ESG.

On September 10, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) announced a settlement with Keurig Dr Pepper Inc (“Keurig”).  The SEC alleged that Keurig made incomplete and inaccurate statements in the Company’s annual reports for fiscal years 2019 and 2020 touting the recyclability of its K-Cup products. Keurig agreed to pay a $1.5 million civil penalty. 

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reportedly recently dissolved its Climate and ESG Enforcement Task Force (the Task Force). The Task Force was part of SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s broader push to increase investors’ access to environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) information about public companies and registered investment companies. The dissolution of the Climate and ESG Enforcement Task Force comes after three years marked by industry resistance and a mixed record in the courts. Prior to the Task Force’s dissolution, the agency removed ESG from its annual Examination Priorities Report, which provides areas of particular focus during SEC examinations. While the Task Force has been dissolved, the SEC is still pursuing a number of its proposed ESG and climate-related rules.

When it comes to environmental laws and regulations, the only question is when—not if—the courts will be asked to resolve contentious issues. Such is the case with a rule proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency, under the Clean Air Act, to limit the greenhouse gas emissions of fossil fuel-fired power plants.

ESG is a major challenge for insurers. All businesses are being called upon to reevaluate their products and purpose, including their role as employers of diverse, engaged workforces. Plaintiffs’ counsel have already begun to take advantage of changing regulatory and consumer expectations, and ESG-related claims are being pursued in the courts over a wide range of issues. Not only are insurers figuring out how to help others manage these risks, they’re also trying to determine the many ways ESG affects them. 

Counsel Ellie Dawson will be speaking as part of a panel at the American Bar Association’s “The Future of Carbon Credit Markets.” This webinar will discuss the carbon credit market and the intensifying frenzy that is currently playing out against a backdrop of inconsistent regulatory compliance and voluntary market regimes, with divergent carbon credit qualification standards. The panel will explore questions such as: What are the greatest challenges in establishing a mature carbon market akin to other commodities and securities markets? How can we bring greater transparency, scale, and consistency to the carbon markets? Who are the critical actors to drive the needed changes? What regulatory and legal challenges lay ahead? Who are the key stakeholders driving greater effectiveness, transparency, and consistency in the voluntary markets? What actions and commitments are needed from these players? How should the legal community interface with the scientific community to optimize outcomes? 

Businesses are under increasing pressure to measure, improve, and disclose their environmental performance to investors, to consumers, and to regulators. And their efforts are reaching into every area of their operations, as are the risks and opportunities that follow. 

This special edition of the Fastest 5 Minutes podcast covers recent developments related to the Infrastructure Bill and Inflation Reduction Act, and key areas to watch in 2023. The podcast features a cross practice team of Crowell partners, so we offer perspectives from tax, energy, labor and employment, government contracts, ESG, environmental, and government affairs. Crowell & Moring's "Fastest 5 Minutes" is a biweekly podcast that provides a brief summary of significant government contracts legal and regulatory developments that no government contracts lawyer or executive should be without.