Jail Time as a Potential Penalty for Non-Compliance with the Sustainability Reporting Act: How Did We Get Here?

Over the past decade, policy makers have introduced a set of laws and regulations that place a range of obligations on businesses to do more in the ESG space. Early policy initiatives were based on transparency and relied primarily on civil society scrutiny and reputational risk to promote compliance rather than monitoring and enforcement by government agencies. However, recent developments indicate a desire and willingness by policymakers to more closely scrutinize the quality of sustainability reporting and the effectiveness of the related steps taken by businesses to address such matters. This article provides an overview of this journey, highlights some of the key themes and provides some general insights into what may lie ahead for businesses to stay ahead. (More on lexology.com)