Tag: economy and society

In this week’s edition of Economy and Society: In the states State attorneys general ask SEC to scrutinize Moody’s ESG practices What’s the story? On Sept. 24, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen (R) sent a letter asking the Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of Credit Ratings to scrutinize Moody's over its use of environmental, social,…

In this week’s edition of Economy and Society: In Washington, D.C. USDA restricts ESG spending in dairy checkoff program What’s the story? The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced Sept. 17 that it will no longer allow dairy checkoff funds to support projects advancing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) frameworks, net-zero targets, or climate-neutrality initiatives.…

In this week’s edition of Economy and Society: In Washington, D.C. EPA repeals power plant carbon standards What’s the story? The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Sept. 14 repealed most Biden-era carbon emissions standards for coal- and gas-fired power plants and proposed eliminating remaining federal greenhouse gas requirements for the power sector. EPA Administrator Lee…

In this week’s edition of Economy and Society: In the states Federal judge blocks New York climate superfund law  What’s the story? Chief Judge Brenda Sannes of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York blocked New York's Climate Change Superfund Act on Aug. 31, ruling that federal law preempts the state's…

In this week’s edition of Economy and Society: In Washington, D.C. SEC moves to eliminate shareholder proposal rule, shift power to states What’s the story? The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) submitted a proposed rule for interagency review on Aug. 28 that would rescind Rule 14a-8, the federal regulation requiring public companies to include qualifying…

In this week’s edition of Economy and Society: In Washington, D.C. Treasury proposes ESG restrictions for Trump Accounts What’s the story? The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) proposed a rule on Aug. 21, 2026, that would exclude funds focused on environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) factors from Trump Accounts. Trump Accounts are…

In this week’s edition of Economy and Society: In Washington, D.C. SEC makes shareholder proposal no-action pause permanent What’s the story? The Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance announced on Aug. 14, 2026, that it will permanently stop responding to no-action requests under Rule 14a-8. The rule governs when shareholders may place…

In this week’s edition of Economy and Society: This week, we're pausing our regular coverage to take a look at the ESG legislation enacted during the 2026 state legislative sessions. For a closer look at the legislation, including how enacted legislation differs by partisan control of state government, click here. States enact 14 ESG-related bills…

In this week’s edition of Economy and Society: In Washington, D.C. Large pension funds oppose SEC climate rule rescission What’s the story? Several large public pension funds filed comments opposing the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) proposal to rescind its 2024 climate-risk disclosure rule. They wrote that eliminating standardized greenhouse gas emissions reporting would increase…

In this week’s edition of Economy and Society: In the states California proposes narrowing Scope 3 emissions reporting  What’s the story? The California Air Resources Board (CARB) proposed limiting companies' initial, mandatory Scope 3 (indirect value chain) emissions disclosures to five of 15 categories under the state's corporate climate reporting law. CARB presented the proposal…