Play Recording

California Climate Bills: Practical Steps Companies Should Take Now

Webinar | October.19.2023 | 9am - 10am (Pacific Daylight Time)

Webinar - Recording available

California Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed the country’s most comprehensive corporate climate disclosure laws to date. Two of the new laws—Senate Bill 253 and Senate Bill 261—require over 5,000 U.S. public and private companies doing business in California to disclose a wide-range of climate-related information about their businesses, operations, and supply chains, while the third bill—Assembly Bill 1305—requires significant disclosure regarding the use of “net zero,” “carbon neutral” and similar claims, including with respect to voluntary carbon offset purchases.

Many companies will need to take significant steps to prepare for these new requirements, and even companies with developed climate programs will need to make sure that their current initiatives meet the specific California requirements. In both cases, companies will need to ramp up efforts well ahead of the disclosure deadlines under the laws.

Join Orrick partners Patrick Ferguson, Ashley Walter and JT Ho as well as Orrick’s Climate Advisor, Avani Panchal, for a discussion on:

• Key features of the new laws
• Interplay with the SEC's proposed climate rule
• How California will likely approach enforcement
• Steps companies should take now to prepare

MCLE Credit (1.0 Credit) is available for this program.

CLE Credits Available: Y

Insights

Our Speakers

Patrick Ferguson Partner, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy

San Francisco

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D:+1 415 773 5762
E: [email protected]

Practice:

Renewable Energy
Solar Energy
Wind Energy
Offshore Wind
Energy Storage
Energy & Infrastructure
Energy
Power

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Patrick Ferguson Partner

San Francisco

Described by Chambers USA as “sought out by energy companies for his expert regulatory and commercial advice as well as his strength in proceedings before the CPUC,” Patrick works on commercial and regulatory challenges involving the transition of the electric power grid to renewable resources. He represents some of the country’s largest power producers in wholesale and retail energy and capacity market transactions.

Patrick advises solar, wind, geothermal, and energy storage project sponsors on site acquisition, transmission, and power purchase agreement negotiations. He also assists producers of new technologies that combat climate change, including renewable fuels, carbon capture, and carbon offset credits, in structuring novel commercial transactions.

J. T. Ho Partner, Corporate Governance, Capital Markets

San Francisco

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D:+1 415 773 5624
E: [email protected]

Practice:

Corporate Governance
Capital Markets
Compensation & Benefits
Environmental, Social & Corporate Governance (ESG)

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J. T. Ho Partner

San Francisco

J.T. counsels companies on Board and committee oversight, assessment and composition issues, developing effective shareholder engagement programs and governance-related disclosures, and helps companies to understand and consider the views of proxy advisors and institutional shareholders and other long-term stakeholders in their decision making. Recently, he has helped many companies successfully address ESG related shareholder proposals and activism campaigns and refine their disclosure controls and procedures and enterprise risk management programs to address cybersecurity and climate risk.

On the securities front, he focuses on advising clients in connection with securities offerings, proxy statements, periodic SEC reports, stock exchange listing obligations, stock repurchases and the sale and reporting of securities by insiders. He regularly counsels companies on difficult disclosure issues and provides training on disclosure best practices.

J.T. also advises on compensation committee matters and related disclosures as well as the design of cash and equity incentive plans, and has helped over a dozen companies remediate failed or low "say on pay" votes.

J.T. plays a leading role in Orrick’s ESG practice, helping companies identify and understand the risks and opportunities associated with ESG and incorporating ESG into a company’s overall business strategy and incentive plans. More recently, he has helped companies navigate the growing anti-ESG movement.

J.T. serves on the advisory board of The Corporate Counsel and hosts J.T.'s Fast Five, a monthly podcast on The Corporate Counsel where J.T. covers the five things public companies ought know each month. J.T. Ho also regularly presents on and contributes articles related to corporate governance, securities, executive compensation and ESG. He has presented at notable conferences sponsored by The Corporate Counsel, the Securities Regulation Institute, The Rock Center for Corporate Governance, the Society for Corporate Governance, the ABA, the Practical Law Institute, Compensation Standards, Practical ESG and NASPP. He is recognized as a Next Generation Partner by Legal 500, as one of the Ones to Watch® Best Lawyers in America, and was named a Rising Star by Super Lawyers in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Avani Panchal Climate Advisor, Capital Markets, Corporate Governance

New York

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D:+1 212 506 5280
E: [email protected]

Practice:

Capital Markets
Corporate Governance
Environmental, Social & Corporate Governance (ESG)

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Avani Panchal Climate Advisor

New York

As a Climate Advisor at Orrick, Avani is a key member of our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Group. She provides non-legal advice to clients on their climate-related governance, strategy, risk management, and relevant targets and metrics, as well as the identification of relevant ESG issues for a range of companies, the collection and analysis of key climate- and ESG- performance metrics, the preparation of climate- and ESG-related disclosures, and research and writing on emerging climate and ESG trends. She also advises and assists clients in conducting greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) inventories, including identifying emissions boundaries and material categories of Scope 3 GHG emissions.

Prior to joining Orrick, Avani worked as a Corporate Sustainability and Climate Change (CS&CC) Manager at ERM (2021-2023) and as an Air Quality/Sustainability Senior Consultant at Ramboll U.S. Corporation (2012-2021). At both these consulting firms she worked on a variety of air quality and GHG compliance, permitting, and reporting projects, along with ESG due diligence using International Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standards and Equator Principles. Avani has developed GHG inventories and evaluation of GHG mitigation strategies for a variety of sectors, including city/county municipalities, corporations, airports and seaports, logistical warehouses, and oil and gas facilities.

She has managed and developed Climate Change and Sustainability Reports and Plans, Energy Conservation Plans, and Corporate Social Responsibility Reports, using reporting frameworks such as GHG Protocol, Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), CDP, and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Avani has robust expertise with GHG analysis and reporting, strategy development, policy and regulatory review, and peer benchmarking, for projects located both within the United States and internationally.

Avani has a master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago (2011) and a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, India (2007).

Ashley Walter Partner, Environmental, Social & Corporate Governance (ESG), Capital Markets

Seattle

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D:+1 206 839 4333
E: [email protected]

Practice:

Technology & Innovation Sector
Environmental, Social & Corporate Governance (ESG)
Capital Markets
Antitrust & Competition
International Trade and Investment
Mergers & Acquisitions
Technology Companies Group

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Ashley Walter Partner

Seattle

As Partner-in-Charge, ESG, Ashley assists public and private companies and their boards in establishing effective oversight of ESG matters, preparing ESG disclosures, addressing ESG commercial requirements, managing investor engagement with respect to ESG matters, and ensuring compliance with ESG laws and regulations. He also works with investment funds to develop fund-level and portfolio company ESG programs that address the full investment cycle, that are responsive to limited partner expectations, and that are appropriate for the stage, industry and business model of portfolio companies. He leverages a firm grounding in ESG substantive issues, significant experience in the design and implementation of ESG policies and procedures, and sector-specific knowledge to develop practical ESG solutions for clients in the tech sector and beyond.

Ashley is a co-founder and past chair of the Corporate Social Responsibility Law Committee of the ABA Business Law Section, has taught the course “Corporate Social Responsibility” as a Lecturer in Law at Stanford Law School, and is a co-editor of The Lawyer’s Corporate Social Responsibility Deskbook, a resource for legal departments and outside counsel to address ESG performance and risk. He has co-chaired the Practicing Law Institute's annual full-day ESG program for the last two years, has served as a moderator at the Stanford Directors' College, and has spoken on private company ESG for a workshop delivered by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research.