Sustainability News + Updates
Sustainability and corporate responsibility considerations play an increasingly important role in business decisions and public discourse. Here, we offer a snapshot of the week’s headlines, keeping you up to date on the most significant sustainability developments.
More information on our Sustainability + Corporate Responsibility Team.
ESG Weekly Digest 09/26/2025
- Expert warns climate change could spark 'new era of gold volatility'
- Advancing new energy industry quality via artificial intelligence-driven integration of ESG principles
- Trump's order to halt offshore wind project overturned, Orsted to restart work
- Why the White House is abandoning solar
- Sustainability Simplified: NY Climate Week Cuts Through the Noise
ESG Weekly Digest 09/19/2025
- DROI presents a study on Environmental human rights defenders
- Climate Change Is Causing Ever More Disruption. Can Australia's New Adaptation Plan Help?
- Shape the future of GRI’s standard setting
- How robotic beehives use AI to protect bees from climate change
- Exclusive: Brazil will be first to invest in global forest fund, sources say
- UN Security Council votes against lifting Iran ‘snapback’ sanctions ahead of deadline
- Sustainability Simplified: EPA to End 15-Year Emissions Reporting Program
ESG Weekly Digest 09/12/2025
- Luxury at a Crossroads: The Biggest ESG Issues Facing the Industry
- EU countries delay deal on new climate goal, diplomats say
- Scientists reveal PFAS impact on liver function
- What to know about California’s looming new disclosure deadlines
- How investors are weighing risk amid surging demand for nuclear energy
- Sustainability Simplified: A Unified Carbon Accounting Standard
ESG Weekly Digest 09/05/2025
- AI implementation in ESG strategies trends in companies’ discussions, finds GlobalData
- SBTi Publishes Draft Power Sector Net-Zero Framework
- Hong Kong emerges as a hub for impact investments as 90% of family offices embrace ESG
- Homes at risk: $12.7 trillion U.S. housing in climate danger
- Wildfires are fuelling air pollution, UN weather body says
- Sustainability Simplified: California’s Climate Risk Checklist
ESG Weekly Digest 08/29/2025
- Balochistan launches major tree plantation drive for greener future
- Trump administration cancels $679 million for offshore wind projects
- Bison migration boosts Yellowstone's nutrient cycle: Study
- Global policy progress on plastics stalls, despite public concern
- Mexico’s avocado industry pledges deforestation-free exports by 2026
- ESG & Climate News: US Trade Pressure Weakens Global Sustainability Agenda
ESG Weekly Digest 08/22/2025
- Trump says U.S. will not approve solar or wind power projects
- Navigating audit’s future: AI, ESG and compliance
- Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee – Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directives 2006/43/EC, 2013/34/EU, (EU) 2022/2464 and (EU) 2024/1760 as regards certain corporate sustainability reporting and due diligence requirements
- The Government of Canada invests in 70 municipalities to strengthen climate resilience
- Trump rolls back rules meant to keep politics out of climate research
- 20 years after Katrina, hurricane risks to Gulf Coast rising, scientist warns
- ESG & Climate News: Five Things Companies Must Know About California’s Climate Rule
ESG Weekly Digest 04/11/2025
- Carbon tax: First-ever global emissions levy on the table at IMO talks
- The power of ESG Public Data: from compliance to competitive edge
- China pledges $137 million for Myanmar earthquake relief
- Donald Trump threatens new tariffs, sanctions on Mexico over water dispute
- Countries agree to global carbon tax on shipping, opposed by Trump
- 5 insights for CSOs from London’s Nature Tech Summit
- ESG & Climate News: Trade Wars and Climate Change
ESG Weekly Digest 03/14/2025
- The Great British Sewage Dump
- RFID and the future of retail
- Farmers sue Trump administration over halted IRA grants
- Trump moves to close government lab that tracks planet-warming pollution
- Companies should resist pressures, stick to ESG commitments: DBS' Tan
- German emissions fell 3.4% in 2024, on track for 2030 climate goals
- ESG & Climate News: US Climate Rollbacks Go Global
ESG Weekly Digest 10/18/2024
- Why ESG is ‘No Longer a Voluntary Initiative’
- COP16: From forests to oceans, nature in a dire state
- Biden administration expedites geothermal energy project approvals
- Trump has vowed to gut climate rules. Oil lobbyists have a plan ready.
- Carbon neutral is a path, not a destination
- 4 ways companies can limit deforestation now
- ESG & Climate News: The Rio Trio: Previewing Three Upcoming COP Summits
ESG Weekly Digest 10/11/2024
- Saudi PIF allocates $5.2 billion in green bonds project
- Battered Florida begins long recovery from back-to-back major hurricanes
- Climate change intensified Hurricane Milton, researchers find
- Photos from Florida as Milton leaves a path of destruction heading into the Atlantic Ocean
- 4 ways to align an impactful ESG strategy with business goals
- ESG & Climate News: Calls for Carbon Market Regulation Grow Amid Climate Disasters
ESG Weekly Digest 07/19/2024
US court will not halt power plant emissions rule as states' challenge it
How the nation’s driest state is using cash to free up water
How we can integrate natural climate solutions to create long-term impacts
ESG & Climate News: States Making US Climate Reporting Inevitable
ESG Weekly Digest 06/28/2024
How 2024 trends are impacting key geographies across the mining sector
Tractor Supply drops diversity and climate goals after backlash
Climate-related issues are growing in urgency, sustainability experts say
ESG & Climate News: ISSB ‘Harmonizes’ Global Sustainability Standards
ESG Weekly Digest 06/21/2024
More states poised to offer Inflation Reduction Act energy rebates
Intense heat in Gaza could worsen health crisis for Palestinians, WHO warns
Texas, California cities threatened by worsening fires amid oil wells
Environmental concerns prompt consumers to shift diets, survey finds
ESG & Climate News: Green Deal Continues: Nature Restoration Law Approved
ESG Weekly Digest 06/14/2024
Luxury homes on these beaches are losing value fast, as effects of climate change hit hard
G7 vows to drop fossil fuels faster, but activists unimpressed
Mountain Valley Pipeline begins operation days after federal approval
ESG & Climate News: What the EU Elections mean for Sustainability
ESG Weekly Digest 05/31/2024
China Aims for Unified Corporate Sustainability Disclosure Standard by 2030
UN biodiversity summit chief: Make peace with nature or risk more war
US voters support holding fossil fuel companies liable for climate change
ESG Weekly Digest 05/17/2024
DeSantis signs bill removing climate change considerations from Florida law
4 dead as severe storms hit Houston area; hundreds of thousands lose power in Texas
Port of San Diego declares emergency over invasive seaweed in southern bay
Months after Maui fires, residents report troubling health problems
ESG Weekly Digest 05/10/2024
A whale makes a comeback off Argentina's coast 100 years after vanishing
Green transition is stitched into the tax code: White House economist
Carbon Dioxide Levels at Hawaii's Mauna Loa Observatory Make Record Leap
Tornadoes tear through the southeastern U.S. as storms leave 3 dead
ESG Weekly Digest 05/03/2024
Biden administration grants flexibility for automakers in EV tax credit rule
Gas stoves spread harmful pollution beyond the kitchen, study finds
Climate crisis: World's happiest countries are looking beyond net zero
Rains in southern Brazil kill at least 39, some 70 still missing
ESG Weekly Digest 04/26/2024
New Climate Alliance for Insurance Transition to Net Zero Emerges Amid ESG Pressures
Miami is 'ground zero' for climate risk. People move there, build there anyway
Indigenous people protest Brazil not protecting ancestral lands
Gov. Gavin Newsom celebrates storage milestone, confirms California blackouts are not over yet
ESG & Climate News: Climate Advocates Call on “Silent Majority” to Act In Pivotal Election Year
ESG Weekly Digest 04/19/2024
UN’s Summit of the Future, EU regions and cities preparing for SDG upgrade
Dubai floods: Record rainfall causes airport chaos, other disruptions
US designates PFAS chemicals as Superfund hazardous substances
New Maui fire report says utility did not respond quickly to first alert of broken power line
ESG Weekly Digest 04/12/2024
Forever chemicals' drinking water rules to cost $1.5 billion a year
Sweden will miss its climate goals without policy changes, environment agency says
High seafood diets may come with a hefty side of ‘forever chemicals’: Study
The Olympics are usually a sustainability disaster. Can Paris be different?
ESG Weekly Digest 03/29/2024
UK's greenhouse gas emissions fell 5.4% in 2023 on lower gas use
Port of Baltimore closure shuts down No. 2 US coal export hub
Electric trucks get a boost from Biden, worrying trucking industry
ESG & Climate News: Larry Fink’s Annual Letter: “ESG” out, “Energy Pragmatism” In
ESG Weekly Digest 03/22/2024
World's first-ever global emissions tax takes a step closer to reality
Challenges to SEC's climate rules sent to conservative-leaning US appeals court
Senate-passed radiation legislation left out of House spending bill
Disentangling the value of ESG scores and classification of sustainable investment products
ESG & Climate News: Unpacking the New EU Due Diligence Directive
ESG Weekly Digest 01/26/2024
Navigating a course through Europe’s shifting regulatory landscape
CEOs bemoan archaic systems in Europe that curb climate solutions
Colombia human rights ombudsman urges action to prevent fires
Biden stalls natural gas exports that activists call ‘climate bombs’
ESG & Climate News: Climate on the Ballot in Largest Election Year
ESG Weekly Digest 01/12/2024
- California Leads with SEC Climate Disclosure Requirements Delayed
- Good news, bad news: U.S. emissions shrank last year, but very slowly
- US scientists say one-in-three chance 2024 another year of record heat
- EPA proposes new rules for methane emission fees
- EPA to levy fees on methane, a climate super-pollutant
- ESG & Climate News: ESG on Fire
ESG Weekly Digest 12/15/2023
- What the COP28 deal means for the U.S. amid record oil and gas output
- What are the loopholes in the COP28 climate deal?
- Passenger trains could help combat climate change — if rail can actually get built
- COP28: How Negotiators Reached Deal to Transition Away From Fossil Fuels
- Who won and lost at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai
- Biden administration announces policy to decarbonize federal work travel
- ESG & Climate News: COP28: Beginning of the End of the Fossil Fuel Era?
- COP28 Marks Important Steps Forward: Now the Real Work Begins
ESG Weekly Digest 10/27/2023
- Peak fossil fuel demand is coming, IEA says — and China will be key
- UAE will not host next year's COP29 climate talks, official says
- Court indefinitely blocks Gulf oil leasing deadline set for Nov. 8
- DOE touts $18.5B in business energy savings through Better Buildings Initiative
- For New Zealand’s Maori communities, climate change is already hurting
- Helping companies navigate today’s evolving global ESG regulatory landscape
- ESG & Climate News: Is ESG Beyond Redemption?
ESG Weekly Digest 10/20/2023
- How El Nino will affect weather this winter
- California governor Newsom heads to China for climate-focused meetings
- EPA tightens reporting requirements for ‘forever chemical’ releases, closing controversial loophole
- Climate activists rally to halt new U.S. exports of natural gas
- CDP secures environmental disclosures from a record 23,000 companies
- ESG & Climate News: ESG Backlash Hits Europe, Fails. Standards Clash
ESG Weekly Digest 10/13/2023
- Why IRA hydrogen tax credit is lightning rod for controversy
- Brazil tells landowners to stop setting fires in Amazon 'climate emergency'
- Global emissions from energy use to increase through 2050: analysis
- US Air Pollution Progress Is Slowing. Researchers Want to Know Why
- Forty percent of Antarctica’s ice shelves are shrinking, worrying scientists
- TCFD: 97 of the world's 100 largest corporations back climate disclosure guidelines
- ESG & Climate News: The New ‘Gold Standard’ for Climate Transition Plans
ESG Weekly Digest 10/06/2023
- Climate Crisis: 2023 set to be warmest on record after September heat
- US tackles climate-warming HFC industrial gases with new rules
- Extreme weather events expected to displace millions of children: UNICEF
- Zambia Plans to Sell a Green Bond, Regulate Carbon Credits
- These themes are the talk of green building professionals
- ESG & Climate News: EU Launches World's First Carbon Tariff
ESG Weekly Digest 09/22/2023
- States push to get to 20 million installed heat pumps by 2030
- Wildfire smoke amid a warming climate is slowing America’s air quality gains
- Biden administration to put $4.6 billion toward state and local climate plans
- 'Milestone': Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures publishes final recommendations
- DOE makes $400M available to assist states, territories in adopting energy-efficient building codes
- ESG and Climate News: SEC Cracks Down on Greenwashing With The New Names Rule
ESG Weekly Digest 09/15/2023
- August 2023: Hottest August in 174 years of records, says NOAA
- Solar energy shines in global survey with 68% support
- Climate Change is Forcing Airports to Adapt to Extreme Weather
- Heading to Climate Week? Here's a cheat sheet
- How companies can be more clear — and credible — with their climate pledges
- ESG & Climate News: California Approves Groundbreaking Climate Disclosure Laws
ESG Weekly Digest 09/08/2023
- Climate: UN report shows world is not on track to avert catastrophe
- Nearly all world's population exposed to global warming over June-September, study says
- World is releasing greenhouse gases at level unprecedented in geologic history, scientist says
- Landmark UN Study Shows Widespread Failure to Meet Climate Goals
- Shade, fog and probiotics: How scientists are trying to protect corals
- Building a future-proof nature portfolio
- ESG & Climate News: The Summer of Interoperability
ESG Weekly Digest 09/01/2023
- White House asks for $4B boost for FEMA after Idalia, Maui fires
- EU to seek COP28 deal on phasing out fossil fuels, draft document says
- Climate change raising risks of financial disaster for homeowners, insurers and bankers
- Africa Offers Global Warming Solution in 1st Climate Declaration
- Idalia’s storm surge was worsened by Florida’s sea level rising
- The hidden cost of corporate climate inaction
- ESG & Climate News: Fossil Fuel Subsidies: Pouring Fuel on the Fire
ESG Weekly Digest 08/25/2023
- Climate: Europe battles wildfires, heavy rain and shipping disruption
- Countries adopt multibillion-dollar fund to protect nature
- Panama’s Canal Is Drying Up and Its Bonds Are Getting Hit Hard
- Circularity, meet decarbonization
- What has the Inflation Reduction Act done to the green economy in the UK?
- ESG & Climate News: ESG in the Spotlight
ESG Weekly Digest 08/18/2023
- NOAA: Florida coral bleaching event could go global
- Record ocean temperatures: Why they happen, how they hurt
- EPA finds toxic ‘forever chemicals’ in water systems around the nation
- First tropical storm watch in history issued for California over Hilary
- 'China’s Abandoned Electric Cars Pile Up After EV Boom Fueled by Subsidies
- Maui fire survivors sleeping in cars and tents, unsure what to do next
- 1 year later: Benefits of the IRA
ESG Weekly Digest 08/11/2023
- Devastating Hawaii fires made ‘much more dangerous’ by climate change
- California turns to AI to help spot wildfires
- Lawmakers grill feds over delays in Hurricane Ian response
- In East Palestine, fear remains six months after train crash
- 'High time to invest in more climate adaption': Natural catastrophes cost insurers $50B in first half of 2023
- ESG & Climate News: European Standards Finalized
ESG Weekly Digest 06/16/2023
- Wildfire smoke makes weekend comeback as Canadian fires rage
- UN climate body head dissatisfied with Bonn climate talks outcome
- Chinese cities break heat records, stressing electricity grid
- Climate change has fueled larger wildfires in California, scientists say
- Companies Muted on ESG
ESG Weekly Digest 06/02/2023
- Arizona sets limits on construction around Phoenix as groundwater dwindles
- EU lawmakers push for nature deal after biggest group walks out
- High fuel prices, energy security concerns drive surge in renewables
- World Bank's new chief asks staff to 'double down' on development, climate efforts
- ESG and Climate News: Climate Implications of the Debt Ceiling Deal
ESG Weekly Digest 05/19/2023
- Catastrophic floods in Italy force thousands of people to leave their homes
- White House to invest nearly $11 billion for renewable energy in rural areas
- NREL energy audit tool may help cities meet climate, building decarbonization goals
- EPA proposes crackdown on toxic coal waste at ‘legacy’ power plant sites
- California could face $50B price tag by 2035 to prepare grid for DERs, study finds
- ESG and Climate News: Ending Greenwashing
ESG Weekly Digest 05/12/2023
- In major milestone, wind power was Britain’s largest source of electricity in the first quarter
- Spain to spend 2.2 bln euros to alleviate drought impact
- EPA proposes strict greenhouse gas emissions cuts for power plants
- Biden administration allocating $830 million for energy efficiency in low-income housing
- Coal-fired power fleet in US to halve by 2050, EIA projects
- ESG and Climate News: Climate Diplomacy Shaping COP 28
ESG Weekly Digest 04/14/2023
- Climate Change Threatens Large Portion Of U.S. Cropland
- Wind and solar generated a record amount of global power in 2022
- Tighter EPA vehicle emissions standards may speed up EV transition
- Fort Lauderdale got 25 inches of rain in ‘unprecedented’ storm
- US Gulf, Southeast sea levels rising at three times global average
- A federal judge has blocked Biden’s clean water rule in 24 states
- ESG and Climate News: Peak Fossil Fuel?
ESG Weekly Digest 04/07/2023
- Biden EPA cracks down on mercury pollution from power plants
- State transportation electrification plans fail to consider grid needs, new ESGI paper warns
- Canada partners with Germany's Heidelberg to support net-zero cement plant
- These organizations are trying to tackle plastic pollution and poverty at the same time
- New data raises concerns over global sea level
- ESG and Climate News: EU’s Sustainability Reporting Rule: Affecting Everyone, Everywhere, All At Once
ESG Weekly Digest 03/24/2023
- California farmers flood their fields in order to save them
- World’s top climate scientists issue ‘survival guide for humanity,’ call for major course correction
- Biden administration to require more efficient window air conditioners, air cleaners
- Biden sets protections for a half-millions acres in Texas and Nevada
- UN warns of ‘rapidly closing’ window to avert global warming
- A ‘greenwashing’ crackdown in Europe hasn’t gone down well. Here’s what you need to know
- Bay Area regulators opt to phase out NOx emissions from furnaces, water heaters, prepare for grid impacts
ESG Weekly Digest 03/17/2023
- Nearly two-thirds of California is now drought-free
- US EPA finalizes rule to tackle interstate smog
- Nevada considers plan to restrict water use for Las Vegas residents
- Arctic ice has seen an ‘irreversible’ thinning since 2007, study says
- EU announces plans to lead green industrial revolution
- Biden proposes first national limits on toxic ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water
- ESG and Climate News: So. Much. ESG. News!
ESG Weekly Digest 03/03/2023
- Global carbon dioxide emissions reached new highs in 2022
- Storms bolster California snowpack, ease drought
- The world is on track to overshoot 1.5 degrees of warming, so it’s time to study reflecting sun away from the Earth, UN says
- Warming Climate Linked to Global Rise in Human-Wildlife Conflicts
- Environmental auditors approve green labels for products linked to deforestation and authoritarian regimes
- U.S. details $6 bln in pledges for climate, ocean investments
- California winter storms bring heavy snow; Newsom declares state of emergency in 13 counties
ESG Weekly Digest 02/24/2023
- Southern California delights in rare snowfall as winter blast lingers
- Biden administration announces first Gulf of Mexico offshore wind lease sales
- China provinces and Florida rank among the world’s most climate-vulnerable areas
- U.S. EPA unveils $550 mln in environmental justice grants
- California water officials raise State Water Project allocation after storms
- Wildlife species worldwide exposed to ‘forever chemicals,’ survey shows
ESG Weekly Digest 02/10/2023
- EPA announces second $1 billion round of infrastructure funding for Superfund cleanup
- Fight over role of tree-trimming in Austin ice outages highlights risks to nation’s grid
- Minnesota bill mandating 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040 heads to governor’s desk
- The return of El Nino could make the world even hotter — endangering a critical climate threshold
- Solar will provide 54% of new US generating capacity in 2023, with 29.1 GW added, EIA forecasts
- Inflation Reduction Act has spurred 100,000 new green jobs so far
- Republican senators seek to reverse U.S. heavy-duty truck emissions rule
ESG Weekly Digest 02/03/2023
- Germany pledges funds to help Brazil defend Amazon rainforest
- EV transition not keeping pace with US climate goals: report
- Biden administration moves toward approval for major Alaska oil drilling project
- California snowpack deepest in four decades
- Colorado River deadline passes with no deal on voluntary water cuts
- A quarter of Austin households without power amid ice storm
- ESG and Climate News