USDA tells digester funding applicants to remove diversity, climate language

The announcement means federal funding for anaerobic digesters on dairy farms could be unpaused for applicants willing to change project language.

By Jacob Wallace • April 9, 2025

Shareholder advocacy targets flexible packaging, reusables and recycling labels

Coca-Cola, Hyatt, Sealed Air, Starbucks and Wyndham recently reached agreements with shareholder advocates. Proposals remain pending at Amazon, Home Depot, Kraft Heinz, Mondelēz, PepsiCo and Wendy’s.

By Cole Rosengren • April 8, 2025

Explore the Trendline➔

Top 5 stories from ESG Dive

This year has shaped up to be a formative one for ESG, from the U.S. pulling out of major climate agreements to federal agencies recalibrating their approach to sustainability under the new administration.

By ESG Dive staff

The missing link: Data’s role in small business disaster recovery

Businesses and communities need more granular and reliable data to recover in the wake of natural disasters, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Marc DeCourcey and Fiserv’s Vivian Greentree say.

By Marc DeCourcey and Vivian Greentree • April 8, 2025

Dutch investor AIP Management invests $500M in US solar producer

AIP will invest half a billion dollars in Silicon Ranch, a full-service solar company and one of the largest U.S. independent power producers.

By Lamar Johnson • April 7, 2025

DOJ attorney in EPA funding freeze case breaks with Zeldin’s fraud comments

“You said that there was waste, fraud, abuse,” Judge Tanya Chutkan said to Department of Justice attorney Marc Sacks. “You seem to be abandoning that position now.”

By Diana DiGangi • April 7, 2025

German prosecutors slap $27M greenwashing fine on Deutsche Bank’s DWS

The Frankfurt Public Prosecutor said statements made by DWS about being an “ESG leader” or ESG being an integral part of its "DNA” did not paint a true picture.

By Zoya Mirza • April 4, 2025

Ford asks investors to vote down supply chain emissions proposal

Shareholder Green Century Capital Management wants the automaker to regularly disclose its strategies for meeting low-carbon steel benchmarks, among others.

By Haley Cawthon • April 4, 2025

Meta signs 10-year forestry-based carbon offtake deal

In “one of the first known contracts” like it, forest investment and management firm EFM will deliver 676,000 nature-based credits as 68,000 acres of forest transition to climate-smart management.

By Lamar Johnson • April 3, 2025

Amex says it stopped using diversity goals to set pay last year

A conservative legal group filed a proposal stating the company should do away with such incentives, but the company said it already shifted away from that practice.

By Patrick Cooley • April 3, 2025

Tennessee ends Wells Fargo probe after bank scraps net-zero target

The state's attorney general commended Wells Fargo’s “pro-consumer decision to step away from utopian policymaking." Seventeen other states had joined the probe.

By Rajashree Chakravarty • April 2, 2025

EPA denies harm from funding freeze in court filing

EPA argued that the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund freeze would not cause irreparable harm to grantees, while the grantee plaintiffs say the freeze is “potentially fatal” for their operations.

By Diana DiGangi • April 2, 2025

OCC ends climate risk guidance for large banks

The Office of the Comptroller of Currency withdrew guidance to help financial institutions managing over $100 billion in total assets identify and manage financial risks related to climate change.

By Zoya Mirza • April 1, 2025

SEC withdraws defense of climate-risk disclosure rule

The agency will no longer defend its rule requiring companies to disclose certain climate-related risks, a move one commissioner called an attempt to “unlawfully” dismantle the rule.

By Lamar Johnson • March 28, 2025

House Republicans probe EPA climate grant recipients

The House Oversight Committee chair is spearheading an investigation into the eight environmental groups that received funding through the Biden-era Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.

By Zoya Mirza • March 28, 2025

Lululemon partners with sustainable materials firm to expand bio-based nylon

The deal with ZymoChem is meant to scale production and commercialize its technology.

By Laurel Deppen • March 28, 2025

ING becomes first global bank with SBTi-validated targets

The bank set targets to reduce its scope 1 and scope 2 emissions for 2030, as well as portfolio targets related to its fossil fuel financing.

By Lamar Johnson • March 27, 2025

JLL acquires renewable energy banking firm Javelin Capital

The global commercial real estate firm said the acquisition will “significantly enhance” the company’s capabilities in the U.S. energy and infrastructure markets.

By Lamar Johnson • March 26, 2025

Amazon launches carbon credit service through sustainability hub

The credits will be available to its U.S. supply chain partners, enterprise customers and Climate Pledge signatories with certain emissions reporting, net-zero targets and decarbonization strategies.

By Lamar Johnson • March 25, 2025

CalSTRS, Microsoft anchor $175M funding round for Al Gore-backed Just Climate

Just Climate’s Natural Climate Solutions strategy will focus on avoiding emissions from agriculture, forestry and other land use while also delivering “attractive returns.”

By Zoya Mirza • March 25, 2025

JPMorgan rebrands DEI, leaves Net-Zero Asset Managers initiative

The bank said it will swap “equity” for “opportunity” in its DEI policy and that it left NZAM due to the net-zero group’s operational pause.

By Lamar Johnson • March 24, 2025

Federal judge blocks EPA’s $14B GGRF funding freeze

The EPA “proffered no evidence to support their basis for the sudden terminations, or that they followed the proper procedures,” said U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan. 

By Diana DiGangi • March 24, 2025

BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street seek dismissal of red states’ coal antitrust suit

The asset managers said the Republican-led states offered “no plausible facts” to support the claim that the three firms conspired to collectively cut coal production in the U.S.

By Lamar Johnson • March 21, 2025

Amid shifting views on ESG, investors retain climate focus: Berkeley Climate Summit

Anti-ESG backlash, reporting hurdles and regulatory uncertainty have put sustainability at a crossroads, panelists said.

By Suman Bhattacharyya • March 19, 2025

Sustainability as strategy: Why smart companies keep ESG policies despite political headwinds

ESG integration delivers operational benefits that transcend political viewpoints, says Aquent Sustainable Solutions Vice President Jody Mousseau.

By Jody Mousseau • March 18, 2025

SEC pushes back Names Rule compliance dates

Funds will now have an additional six months to comply with the rule requiring funds’ investment strategies to align with any advertised purposes, like ESG or sustainability.

By Lamar Johnson • March 18, 2025