How responsible business rules protect workers, investors, and consumers

Image: Morriswa, via Wikimedia Commons

• A new Supreme Court ruling overturning what’s known as the “Chevron doctrine” could not only affect investor protections, but worker and consumer protections as well: Overtime pay, benefits, workplace retirement plans, the minimum wage, independent contractors and employee rights to unionize are just some of the critical workplace issues for which guardrails set by agencies charged with enforcing workplace laws may now be more hotly contested by companies than before. CNN, June 30, 2024
• Exxon’s Canadian subsidiary Imperial Oil has deleted a document from its website claiming to investors that carbon capture and storage is “critical” to achieving the “climate goals outlined in the Paris Agreement.”  That is one of at least 39 documents recently removed from the company’s website after new anti-greenwashing legislation was passed in Canada, according to a DeSmog analysis. DeSmog, June 27, 2024
• Reality Check For Regulators: A Dangerous Carbon Bubble Persists. In October 2021, the Financial Stability Oversight Council identified climate risk as a growing threat to the US financial system and stressed the necessity of mandatory disclosure to mitigate it. Three years later, comprehensive disclosure rules are still lacking. John Kostyack writes, “urgent action on transition risk disclosure is needed from regulators, investors, and all others concerned about climate change’s impact on our economy and our future.” Forbes, June 27, 2024