In the News

Key U.S. authorities have acknowledged the urgent need to act on climate risks to the banking system. Recent actions and remarks are beginning to shed light on what the next wave of policies to address these risks might entail. They’re likely to look a lot like many other, existing financial risk regulations.

The FTC voted 3-1 along party lines to issue the Junk Fees ANPR. The Junk Fees ANPR was issued following the issuance of a Petition for Rulemaking filed by the Institute for Policy Integrity in December 2021.

The new study could add to calls to limit public health risks from gas stoves. Earlier this year, the Institute for Policy Integrity (IPI) at New York University pressed the Consumer Product Safety Commission to address such risks -- an effort that comes as California and various local governments seek to limit gas-fired appliances over climate change concerns.

A proposal from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that would standardize public companies’ disclosures of climate risk information is getting strong support from the general public, investors, companies of various sizes across a wide range of sectors, law and business scholars, public officials, climate scientists, and environmental advocates – including EDF. We joined the Institute for Policy Integrity at NYU School of Law to submit letters supporting the proposed standards. Our letters focus on three reasons why the SEC is on strong legal footing.

NYU Law’s Institute for Policy Integrity has tracked and commented on regulatory activity involving ESG in the past few years. Policy Integrity has submitted comments on proposed rules from the US Department of Labor involving retirement plan fiduciaries’ ability to integrate ESG considerations into investment and proxy voting decisions. And recently the institute prepared comments on the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed new requirements for ESG fund names and ESG funds’ disclosures on investing and voting practices.

"Drip pricing is really not good for anyone — it creates a race to the bottom, where all ticket sellers feel like they have to advertise deceptively low fees or they'll lose out to those who do," said Max Sarinsky, a senior attorney at the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University. "It's not the kind of problem that can solve itself, because it requires all actors to behave well." Last year, the institute asked the Federal Trade Commission, which has the authority to crack down on misleading and deceptive business practices, to ban drip pricing. Its petition garnered support from a number of consumer rights groups and event ticket sellers.

Greenhouse gas emissions are financially relevant to investors because they affect the company's ability to transition to a new economy, and could add compliance costs, Lienke said. “If we know that an increasing number of states and countries are making legally binding requirements," he said, "that is going to have a financial impact on those companies in those jurisdictions that emit a lot."

Leading farm groups are calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission to exempt agriculture from proposed requirements that corporations start disclosing the greenhouse gas emissions in their supply chains. But supporters of the rule argue the ag sector’s concerns are overblown and that industry emissions estimates will be sufficient to comply with the disclosure rules. “Some small farmers and businesses have submitted comments indicating their concern that the compliance costs of the rule would reach them. However, large public companies regularly comply with voluntary emissions reporting standards through estimated, rather than measured, supply chain emissions,” according to comments provided by the Environmental Defense Fund and the Institute for Policy Integrity at the New York University School of Law.

“Those who think ESG investing is all surface and no substance should welcome the Commission’s effort to provide investors in ‘green’ or ‘socially responsible’ funds with clear and comparable information about where their dollars are going and why,” Jack Lienke, who directs regulatory policy at New York University’s Institute for Policy Integrity, said in a statement. “And those who think ESG investing is a reliable means of maximizing long-term returns,” he added, “should welcome this effort to expose greenwashing and increase investor confidence in legitimate ESG claims and products.”

Environmental lawyers are urging federal officials to do more to protect the public from gas stoves' emissions, saying the pollution is dangerous and not adequately regulated. In a new report, researchers at the Institute for Policy Integrity said the stoves should be sold with warning labels similar to those on portable generators warning of carbon monoxide poisoning, the authors said. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) should also start public education campaigns about the dangers of stove emissions, they added. "Something needs to be done. We know that [gas stoves] are dangerous. You can't just ignore it," said Laura Figueroa, a co-author of the report and a legal fellow at the institute. "The CPSC ... is in a position to address these dangers, and we think they should take action," she added.