Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions decreased by 6.4% in 2020, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While encouraging at first glance, many climate change experts have pointed out that this result will have hardly any long-term effect on curbing climate change. The link between economic activity and emissions is hard to ignore. As was noted recently in Nature, China is a good example of this. Its emissions reduced significantly early in the year but…

On March 23-26, 2021, the American Bar Association’s Section of Antitrust Law held its annual Spring Meeting virtually.  This annual event—which brings together government enforcers, policymakers, and antitrust practitioners on antitrust and consumer protection issues—was more relevant than ever at a time of a change in presidential administration in the United States, as well as vigorous enforcement agendas for both U.S. federal and state attorneys general and non-U.S. competition authorities. Panelists from government and the…

The huge rise in popularity of Bitcoin — and the growing interest by mainstream financial institutions in virtual assets as an investable and tradable asset class — has shone a light on the cryptocurrency industry’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. The vast majority of the world’s financial institutions manage climate risk and other ESG risks in their own portfolios. As a result, many financial institutions perform related diligence on corporates they look to service,…

With a dizzying array of state privacy laws on the horizon, the prospect of a federal solution has come into sharp focus.  Rather than a patchwork of regional legislation, a comprehensive national framework would potentially govern the precautions that companies must take when electronically collecting, using and storing customers’ personal information, regardless of where in the country the company—or the consumer—is located.  That is the current situation in the European Union under the General Data…

Recently, workers at Amazon dealt what has been called a “decisive” and “crushing” blow to organized labor,[1] with their proposed union receiving less than 30 percent of the votes cast, according to the federal vote counters overseeing the election.  While union officials complain that Amazon cheated by campaigning too hard against the organizing effort, a close look at the election indicates that the better argument is that Amazon workers acted rationally. The most…

Environmental, social and governance, or “ESG”, considerations are seemingly ubiquitous in the current financial, corporate and regulatory landscape. In parallel with the socio-economic upheaval of 2020 and a continuing academic debate around corporate purpose and the efficacy and forms of stakeholder governance,[1] investors are increasingly using ESG factors in decisions about how to allocate their capital.[2] This trend is seen in investors of all varieties, from large institutions (such as BlackRock and State Street, each…

On March 10, 2021, the United States Senate confirmed D.C. Circuit Judge Merrick Garland as the incoming Attorney General to lead the Department of Justice (DOJ).  The confirmation of Biden’s nominee to lead the Securities & Exchange Comission (SEC), Gary Gensler, is likely to follow.  These selections for the heads of the two regulatory bodies that enforce the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) are expected to reinforce the focus on this area, reflecting President Biden’s…