The convergence of environmental urgency and the rising power of “universal owners” – asset managers with broad-based portfolios, such as BlackRock – has kindled the hope among academics and activists that universal owners will leverage their power to push companies in their portfolio to reduce carbon emissions. Emissions are an especially promising target of systematic
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How to Break Up Amazon
The Federal Trade Commission has accused Amazon of illegally maintaining its monopoly, extracting supra-competitive fees on merchants that use Amazon’s platform. If and when the fact-finder determines that Amazon violated the antitrust laws, we propose structural remedies to address the competitive harms. Behavioral remedies have fallen out of favor among antitrust scholars. But the success…
Sullivan & Cromwell Discusses Recent Legal Developments on Voluntary Carbon Credits
A large number of companies globally have announced net zero greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions targets, most of which are likely to require some form of carbon offsetting. Many consumers are also interested in offsetting their carbon footprint. The development of this market has been constrained by the absence of national mandatory emissions systems. However, the…
John C. Coffee, Jr. – The Trump Civil Trial: Has Anyone Looked at the Statute?
The end is in sight for New York Attorney General Letitia James’ suit against Donald Trump, but the most important questions have still not been posed or addressed. Indeed, much has proceeded in the reverse of the usual order. The trial was preceded by the verdict: a finding by the court on a pre-trial summary…
Goodwin Procter Discusses Yet Another Two Decisions in Bernie Madoff Case
Bernie Madoff died on April 14, 2021, while incarcerated in the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, but he lives on in bankruptcy jurisprudence. The December 2008 disclosure that Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (BLMIS) was a Ponzi scheme led to its liquidation under the Securities Investor Protection Act (SIPA).1 A SIPA liquidation…
Executive Actions to Ensure Safe and Responsible Ocean Carbon Dioxide Removal Research in the United States
The Sabin Center published a new report today recommending actions that federal agencies could take to ensure safe and responsible permitting and regulation of ocean carbon dioxide removal (CDR) research in U.S. waters.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has concluded that CDR will be needed, alongside deep emissions cuts, to achieve global climate goals.…
Do Private or Public Firms Invest More Efficiently?
In a new paper, we examine the differences between private and public firms to see whether one outshines the other when it comes to investment efficiency. Our analysis begins with three theories.
The Agency Theory: Although going public offers investors liquidity, diversification, and lower capital costs, a separation between management and ownership arises, leading to…
Arnold & Porter Discusses More Labor Department Changes to Retirement-Plan Fiduciary Rules
In the latest development in a long-running regulatory saga, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on October 31, again proposed major changes (the Proposal) to the fiduciary rules applicable to the offering of financial products to most individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and private sector retirement plans (collectively with IRAs, “plans”). To address DOL’s longstanding concerns…
How Investors React to SEC and CFTC Enforcement in Digital Asset Markets
Digital assets and blockchains can lead to financial innovations with a range of applications across countries, markets, and industries. Yet they also require comprehensive regulation, which is especially difficult within the fragmented financial-regulation framework of the United States. In a recent article, we provide an empirical study of regulatory fragmentation in digital asset markets.…
Davis Polk Discusses FSOC Revision to Nonbank SIFI Designation Framework
The Financial Stability Oversight Council revised its interpretive guidance and analytic framework for FSOC’s authority to designate nonbank financial companies for Federal Reserve supervision and regulation and to otherwise monitor and respond to financial stability risks. These changes reverse key aspects of changes made during the Trump administration to the designation framework and procedures.
Key…