Texas AG Ken Paxton filed suit (July 29) against proxy advisory firms ISS and Glass Lewis, alleging deceptive trade practices in connection with ESG-related voting recommendations — joined by AGs from Iowa, Nebraska, and West Virginia. The lawsuits allege that the firms' ESG-oriented recommendations violate consumer protection laws and improperly influence corporate governance decisions. This is t
The Higher Regional Court of Cologne (Case No. 6 U 68/25) prohibited an airline on July 8, 2026 from advertising that customers can "reduce flight-related CO2 emissions directly during the booking process" by paying a surcharge for sustainable aviation fuel. The court held that the claim constituted unfair advertising under the German Act against Unfair Competition (UWG) because it withheld materi
Two new US class actions filed the week of July 13 illustrate the expanding scope of greenwashing litigation beyond climate-specific claims. Driscoll's faces a class action over alleged PFAS-related pesticides and sustainability claims; AriZona beverages faces a class action over "All Natural" labeling. Both cases reflect the same enforcement logic: a company's public sustainability or naturalness
Senken's July 13 analysis of corporate greenwashing risk in carbon credit markets — citing Max Planck Institute research — found that more than 68% of DAX40 companies that purchased carbon credits ended up supporting projects with no real climate impact. The Max Planck Institute separately found that 84% of carbon credits across the broader market are high-risk. The enforcement consequence is alre
FTI Strategic Communications' July 16 ESG+ Newsletter synthesized three developments with direct ESG practice implications. First, the SEC issued new guidance requiring activist investors to disclose the identities of their clients in regulatory filings — a governance transparency measure that will affect the ESG activist engagement strategies clients use to engage portfolio companies on climate a
While the standalone Green Claims Directive proposal remains dormant amid political backlash, the already-adopted Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (ECGT, Directive 2024/825) becomes directly enforceable across all 27 member states on September 27, 2026, banning unsubstantiated generic claims like "eco-friendly" or "sustainable," prohibiting offset-based "carbon neutral" prod
On June 29, ArentFox Schiff published a compliance alert flagging that California's SB 343 applies to all products manufactured after October 4, 2026: companies must either verify their products meet quantitative recyclability criteria (including 60% consumer access to recycling collection and 60% of California recycling systems sorting the material) or remove recyclability claims — including the
On June 29, U.S. District Judge Matthew Brookman for the Southern District of Indiana granted a preliminary injunction blocking an Indiana law — set to take effect July 1 — that required proxy advisers to attach a "written financial analysis" to any voting recommendation against company management, or disclose that no such analysis had been conducted. The court found the law constituted "viewpoint