No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Assessing ESG Litigation Risks

Learning Objectives

• To explain what is “greenwashing”.
• To analyze greenwashing risks.
• To discuss how to mitigate risks for your company.

Course Description

This course is all-purpose and provides useful insights that go beyond particular professional fields. Although this course is open to tax professionals like EA, MRTP, and ORTP, it does not qualify for CE credits.

Greenwashing, or making false claims about the sustainability of products or services, is becoming an increasing problem globally as ESG continues to influence investment opportunities. 

Environmental groups, governments, and class action attorneys are all seeking to find and punish companies engaged in greenwashing. Greenwashing risks can take several forms, such as hidden trade-offs, baseless claims, and partial truths. Recent cases have been filed against Coca-Cola by a proposed class of consumers and the Sierra Club alleging that the "100% recyclable" labels on the company's plastic water bottles violate false advertising and consumer protection laws.  

Key topics covered in this course:

• ESG Overview: Risks & Triggering Events
• SEC Climate Change Policies
• Type of ESG Litigation Risk
• Best Practices for ESG Programs

Join this CPE Business Law Webinar to understand ways to mitigate the risk, including reviewing claims, backing up claims with data, and confirming that images on ads and packaging are not misleading.

Overview

• ESG Inter-Relationships

  4 mins
• ESG Risks

  13 mins
• Current ESG background Environment

  22 mins
• SEC's climate change disclosure proposal

  27 mins
• Impacts on business strategy

  32 mins
• Class action litigation - an expensive proposition

  39 mins
• Trend: Increase in litigation challenges

  44 mins
• Practical tips and best practices for ESG program

  50 mins