Foley & Lardner LLP partner Sarah Slack is quoted in the Wisconsin Lawyer article, “Wisconsin Legal Trends 2024,” offering insight on environmental legal trends.
“Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) continues to be a hot and complicated topic as we head into 2024, especially related to companies’ often voluntary efforts to reduce their green-house gas emissions (GHG),” explained Slack.
Slack touched on several newly enacted state laws, including California’s Voluntary Carbon Market Disclosure Act, the much-anticipated finalization of the SEC’s Climate Disclosure Rules, and the rise in greenwashing lawsuits, demonstrating how the focus for companies looking to make claims about their GHG-emission-reduction efforts will be on transparency and accountability.
“Companies making or looking to make ESG claims or commitments related to reductions of GHG emissions should take a hard look at their accounting for existing emissions; the effectiveness, quality, and demonstrability of their reduction efforts; and what appropriate qualifications may be necessary to ensure transparency and minimize overstatement of efforts,” she said.
“And, as disclosure requirements start to become effective, companies should also be prepared to provide documentation and access to information to substantiate their claims and efforts, both to regulators and to their customers,” Slack added.
