The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it will not express opinions to requests from companies asking to exclude shareholder proposals from their proxy voting materials during the 2025-2026 proxy season, effectively allowing companies to avoid voting on issues proposed by investors such as climate, sustainability and diversity at annual meetings. In a statement released by the SEC, the…

Deutsche Bank announced a series of new updates to its sustainability strategy, including expanding its sustainable finance strategy to target opportunities for funding net zero transitions in hard to abate sectors, with the release of a new framework outlining its rules and parameters for transition finance transactions, and a new €900 billion by 2030 sustainable finance, ESG investment and transition…

Renewable energy technology startup Exowatt announced that it has raised $50 million, with proceeds to be used to help deploy its round-the-clock renewable energy technology near AI data centers and industrial sites across the U.S. The new funding brings Exowatt’s capital raised to date to $140 million in under two years, including a $70 million Series A round earlier this…

By Mark Vaessen, Chair of the KPMG Global Corporate & Sustainability Reporting Topic Team The European Union’s ambitious drive towards a more sustainable economy has been a defining characteristic of its regulatory landscape in recent years. This year, the focus of the EU has shifted more towards competitiveness of the economy with a number of measures to reduce the administrative…

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) announced the launch of the Integrity Matters Checklist, a new resource aimed at helping companies reporting using the GRI standards to align their climate commitments, transition plans and disclosures with the UN’s net zero guidance. The new tool provides a mapping between the UN Integrity Matters report – which includes a series of recommendations for…

Amazon announced the launch of a series of new global replenishment projects across the U.S., UK and Mexico, expected to restore over 2 billion liters of water annually through nature-based solutions that will also improve habitats and ecosystems. Amazon has set a series of water stewardship goals, including a target to be water positive in AWS, returning more water to…

French energy giant TotalEnergies announced today the acquisition of 50% of Czech Republic-based multi-utility company EPH’s flexible power generation platform, including gas-fired and biomass power plants and battery storage sites across Western Europe, in a €5.1 billion (USD$5.9 billion) all-stock transaction valuing the assets at a €10.6 billion enterprise value. The portfolio’s 14 GW of flexible generation in operation or under…

Global mining and metals company Rio Tinto announced today an agreement with Australian environmental technology company Calix, including a commitment to invest more than A$35 million (USD$23 million) to support the construction of a new green iron demonstration plant that uses electric heating and hydrogen reduction to help decarbonize steelmaking. Alongside the new agreement, Rio Tinto also announced that would…

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will examine and propose actions focused on the role of proxy advisory firms and large institutional investors’ influence over the shareholder voting process, in order to tackle “the abuse of the corporate governance system and weaponization of shareholder proposals by politicized shareholder activists,” according to comments by SEC Chair Paul Atkins. In his…

This week in ESG news: EU lawmakers vote to slash sustainability reporting, due diligence rules; World’s largest companies resume net zero goal setting after pausing last year; SBTi releases new draft corporate net zero standard; IFRS Foundation’s ISSB to develop nature-related reporting standards; UK releases sustainability reporting assurance standards; Nike signs deals to source recycled materials; Zurich Insurance drops pursuit…