Thank you for joining us at Covington during New York Climate Week. We were delighted to welcome more than 625 attendees to our New York office for 20 events and meetings, convening leaders from government, business, civil society, and the legal and policy communities. The breadth of the week was
Continue Reading New York Climate Week 2026 – Closing ReflectionsOn July 14, 2026, U.S. District Judge William Q. Hayes granted a motion for preliminary injunction barring California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the State of California from enforcing SB 343, California’s “Truth in Recycling” law, while the litigation proceeds. The order is significant not merely because it pauses
Continue Reading California Court Issues a Preliminary Injunction Stopping Enforcement of SB 343, “Truth in Recycling”A coalition of 21 trade associations and commodity groups has filed a complaint seeking to enjoin enforcement of portions of California’s SB 343, also known as the “Truth in Recycling” law, which sets restrictions on how manufacturers and sellers can communicate recyclability information in California. Among other things, the statute
Continue Reading Industry Coalition Challenges California’s Truth in Recycling Law SB 343 on Constitutional GroundsAfter months of uncertainty, the outlook for key EU sustainability laws is far clearer.
On November 13, 2025, the European Parliament adopted its negotiating position on the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (“CSRD”) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (“CSDDD”) Omnibus simplification. This follows the European Commission’s Omnibus proposal in
Continue Reading The CSRD/CSDDD Omnibus Endgame: Key Points for CompaniesOn June 23, 2025 the Council of the EU, which represents the 27 EU Member States, agreed on its negotiating mandate for the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (“CSRD”) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (“CSDDD”) omnibus simplification.
This follows the European Commission’s omnibus proposal from February and is the next
Continue Reading EU Member States Agree on CSRD/CSDDD Omnibus Negotiating MandateThe European Union has just adopted the Right to Repair Directive (“R2RD”). Once it enters into force, the R2RD will require manufacturers of many types of consumer goods to provide repairs beyond the liability period, among other requirements. This blog post follows up on our previous blog post that discussed the different positions of the European Parliament and Council on the legislative proposal for the R2RD.
Continue Reading The EU Adopts Right to Repair DirectiveOn January 17, 2024, the European Parliament formally endorsed its provisional agreement with the Council on the Directive Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition through Better Protection against Unfair Practices and Better Information (“Greenwashing Directive”). The Council is now expected to endorse the provisional agreement after which the Directive will be published in the EU Official Journal and enter into force.
The Greenwashing Directive aims to contribute to the EU’s green transition by empowering consumers to make informed purchases using reliable sustainability information about products and traders. To do so, the Directive amends Directive 2005/29 on Unfair Business-to-Consumer Practices (“Unfair Commercial Practices Directive”) by introducing specific rules on sustainability and environmental claims. The Greenwashing Directive is intended to work in tandem with the proposed Directive on substantiation and communication of explicit environmental claims (the “Proposed Green Claims Directive”), which we reported on here.
Companies should keep a close eye on the transposition of this Directive, as it will have a significant impact on how they communicate about their sustainability, environmental, and social or ethical efforts. Covington can help companies with navigating these regulatory requirements while meeting their business objectives.
Continue Reading EU Adopts New Rules on Greenwashing and Social Impact ClaimsCalifornia’s Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) recently released a preliminary report analyzing data related to the recyclability of certain materials in California. The report, issued in accordance with CalRecycle’s obligations under California Senate Bill 343 (SB 343), is intended to help the public determine whether businesses may legally
Continue Reading California Publishes Preliminary Report on Recyclability of Materials Under SB 343The European Commission is currently holding a public consultation on a Draft Delegated Act (“DDA”) on a common rating scheme on the energy performance of data centers in the European Union and European Economic Area (“EU/EEA”). The DDA will lay out the energy key performance indicators that operators and owners of data centers must report, the sustainability indicators that will be calculated per data center, and the aggregated data that will be made publicly available, in accordance with the new EU Energy Efficiency Directive (“EED”).
The adoption of the DDA will introduce specific mandatory environmental and energy performance reporting requirements for data centers for the first time in the EU/EEA, and probably in the world. These reporting requirements may be the first step for the EU to adopt mandatory environmental performance targets for data centers within the next decade.
Continue Reading Upcoming Sustainability Reporting Requirements for Data Centers in the EULast week, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that modifies the regulations applicable to the Energy Credit under Section 48 of the Internal Revenue Code (Code). The NPRM also withdraws and repurposes portions of an August proposal on the rules governing the increased credit amount available for taxpayers satisfying prevailing wage and registered apprenticeship requirements established by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). This post summarizes a few key aspects of the NPRM below:
Continue Reading Department of the Treasury and IRS propose new guidance for the Section 48 Investment Tax Credit