This website uses cookies. By using this website, you agree to our Cookie Policy.
Cadwalader’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) practice, focusing on all aspects of climate change and sustainability, social impact and associated governance issues, helps clients proactively address some of the most significant forces shaping the corporate and financial services landscapes. Our multi-disciplinary team advises on the full range of potential ESG impacts, including:
- Compliance with regulatory and market developments involving ESG standards;
- Institutional and activist investor engagement and responses to shareholder proxy proposals;
- Best practices for directors and board committees in monitoring and reporting on climate change and social impact matters, including proactively assessing enterprise-wide risks and opportunities associates with climate transition;
- Director diversity, expertise and other board composition issues;
- ESG- and sustainability-linked financings;
- ESG-related investment programs;
- ESG-linked executive compensation approaches;
- Public issuer disclosure and avoidance of “greenwashing” claims, quantitative and qualitative assessment of carbon emissions, developments in sustainability taxonomies, and navigating the multitude of ESG ratings providers;
- Diversity, equity & inclusion (DE&I) goals and practices;
- Workplace and human capital culture and management;
- Community outreach;
- Assistance with compliance, design and implementation of climate change mitigation and “green” commodity projects;
- Regulatory support with compliance and voluntary carbon reduction schemes in the U.S. and globally;
- Documentation, regulatory and policy support for financing projects involving ESG projects including net-zero commitments as well as products designed to mitigate climate change (g., carbon credits and offsets, RECs, SRECs, RINs, LCFS).
We have deep experience representing clients in litigation or government investigations arising out of these matters, and related crisis management and media coordination. We work across our practice areas to offer clients a holistic approach to achieving their ESG goals and keep abreast of the near-constant market and regulatory developments in this these areas.
We also are committed to keeping our clients aware of the latest legislative, regulatory, caselaw or industry developments affecting ESG issues. Members of our team are actively involved in the development of ESG disclosure standards with leading industry organizations, including the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council (CREFC) and the Structured Finance Association (SFA), and our attorneys regularly draft amicus briefs for industry associations, author articles in prominent publications, speak at leading industry events, and teach law school classes in the areas of climate change and sustainability, social impact and governance. In these ways, we attempt to help shape the evolving regulatory and litigation landscape in an appropriate and responsible way that can also benefit our clients.
