Sustainability

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By Ilana R. Morady

nugget goldSeyfarth Synopsis: Companies are experiencing difficulties in complying with their disclosure responsibilities under the SEC’s conflict mineral requirements.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a report to Congress on the effectiveness of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) conflict minerals rule, finding that companies are experiencing difficulties in fulfilling their disclosure responsibilities.

The…
Continue Reading New GAO Report Highlights Challenges in Complying with Conflicts Minerals Rule

By Ilana R. Morady, Meagan Newman, and Craig B. Simonsen

SaferChoiceThe U. S. Environmental Protection Agency introduced this week the “Safer Choice” label, indicating that Safer Choice helps consumers, businesses, and purchasers find products that perform well and are safer for human health and the environment.

We had blogged last year that EPA’s Office of Inspector General…
Continue Reading EPA Unveils the Safer Choice Label

By Jeryl L. Olson and Patrick D. Joyce

Our retail clients with stores and warehouse facilities in the State of New York are warned that the State of New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC) has announced that it will begin enforcing regulations relating to hazardous waste against big boxes, supermarkets, pharmacies and other retailers which generate waste materials…
Continue Reading Warning! Retailers’ Environmental Enforcement Initiative in New York

By James L. Curtis and Meagan Newman

woman hold scanner and scans barcode with laserTraceability, according to the June 2014 guide published by the U.N. Global Compact and sustainability advisory firm BSR, means: “The ability to identify and trace the history, distribution, location and application of products, parts and materials, to ensure the reliability of sustainability claims, in the areas of human rights, labor (including health and…
Continue Reading Traceability: What Does it Mean for Your Business?

By Ilana R. Morady, Meagan Newman, and Craig B. Simonsen

The EPA, in an effort to expand the number of chemicals and functional-use categories on its  Safer Chemical Ingredients List (SCIL), is inviting chemical manufacturers to submit their chemicals for review and listing.

The SCIL includes chemicals that have met EPA safety criteria developed by the Design for the …
Continue Reading EPA Wants Your Chemicals to be Designated as Safer Chemical Ingredients

By Jeryl L. Olson and Craig B. Simonsen

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday released a Notice of Data Availability for “Hazardous Waste Management in the Retail Sector.” 79 Fed. Reg. 8926 (February 14, 2014).

An impetus for the Notice was President Obama’s Executive Order 13563, Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review, “which charges federal agencies to monitor regulatory…
Continue Reading EPA Rulemaking on Hazardous Waste Management in the Retail Sector

Lawrence Moss and Scott Schonfeld recently published a client alert on the City of Chicago’s new Building Energy Use Benchmarking Ordinance. Chapter 18-14.

Chicago now joins several other major municipalities which have adopted similar legislation, including New York City, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Boston, and San Francisco. Subject to limited exceptions, and staggered reporting obligations, the Ordinance broadly requires…
Continue Reading Mandatory Energy Benchmarking Ordinance

By Ilana R. Morady and Meagan Newman

California’s Safer Consumer Product regulations, which implement the state’s “Green Chemistry” law, will take effect October 1, 2013. The regulations require manufacturers of widely used consumer products to seek safer alternatives to harmful chemical ingredients.

The regulations, which apply to consumer products in the California stream of commerce, establish a three-step process:…
Continue Reading California’s Green Chemistry Law Become Effective October 1, 2013

By Ilana R. Morady and Meagan Newman

In August 2012 the SEC enacted a rule as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, P.L. 111-203, in an attempt to curtail human rights abuses in Africa.  77 FR 56274 (September 12, 2012). The new rule requires affected companies to file annual Conflict Minerals Reports. The first…
Continue Reading Conflict Mineral Reporting: Are You Ready?

By Meagan Newman

While large and small companies across the globe have been addressing issues of corporate responsbility and sustainability for many years now, India has became the first country to pass a law that requires large companies to spend a percentage of their profits on corporate sustainability initiatives.  The law, which updates India’s Companies Act of 1956, applies…
Continue Reading World’s First Corporate Responsibility Mandate Passed in India