A quick scan of the topics in this quarter’s issue of our long-running Business Law Update newsletter provides a useful snapshot of the current state of the world of business, and beyond:
- International trade and investment realignment
- Corporate responses to climate change
- Cybersecurity
- Changing moral values (legalization of marijuana)
- Looming recession risks
All that seems to be missing is the FIFA men’s football/soccer World Cup!
This is the first column in quite a while in which I have not been tempted to take as a theme a certain pandemic disease that seems to have monopolized the conversation since making its appearance in late 2019/early 2020. We also may come back later to cryptocurrencies, which recently hit a bump in their road to global financial dominance, perhaps permanently.
The idea of permanence calls out from the topics in this edition of the newsletter in at least two respects. Laws and regulation always ebb and flow in response to changes in personal behavior, the business cycle, geopolitics, criminal ingenuity, and other factors.
One topic this time reflects potentially a more permanent change, which increasingly businesses are being called upon to help address: climate change. While still controversial in some quarters, a global consensus on the need for action is growing. Witness the reports and outcomes from
the COP27 global climate change summit in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh. As this issue becomes more mainstream and, some would say, acute, companies increasingly will be called upon to align their business practices and models. Many will find ways to turn necessity into business opportunity.
This has been a regular topic in the Business Law Update. For example, in the fall 2021 issue we reported on our firm’s ESG Collaborative. We are continuing that effort. We are again this fall surveying our clients and contacts about their efforts to boost environmental, social and good governance issues in their businesses. We also are reviewing our firm’s own operations and policies to align them with ESG principles, not only because it is the right thing to do, but also because it is good for our bottom line.
ESG compliance is similar in one important respect to other company compliance efforts. If you say you are going to do something, then you had better do it. And if you are a public company, beyond the court of public opinion, the securities regulators – and increasingly plaintiffs – are going to hold you to your word (see Tanya Nesbitt’s article on the growing phenomenon of “greenwashing”). As always I hope you will find this information interesting and impactful for your business. I’d love to hear from you with any comments or questions about this issue, and suggestions for topics you would like to see us cover in the future.
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