Insights

As the Supreme Court's Term begins, join WEN-DC for a special panel "High Court, High Stakes: Energy and Administrative Law at the Supreme Court" from 5:00 pm to 7:00 PM (ET) on Monday, November 3, 2025 at Crowell & Moring LLP.

The Environmental Law Conference at Yosemite® is nationally recognized as the largest and most prestigious gathering in California of leaders in environmental, land use, and natural resources law. We hope you will join us and many of our nation’s top environmental officials, lawyers, and other professionals for four days of legal education and collegiality in Yosemite.

As part of New York Climate Week, you are warmly invited to a luncheon hosted by Crowell & Moring LLP and the Environmental Law Institute (ELI).

To reduce waste and encourage recycling, an increasing number of international, federal, and local jurisdictions are embracing extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws, which have wide-reaching compliance implications for product manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and other entities falling within the varying definitions of “producers.” EPR laws assign covered producers greater responsibility for the full lifecycle of their products and establish mandatory requirements for reporting, source reduction, and financial contributions to third-party entities, known as producer responsibility organizations. EPR requirements apply to a variety of consumer product categories, including batteries, electronics, mattresses, pharmaceuticals, textiles, and, most recently, packaging and paper products.

These ESG claims were purported to be overstated, misleading, or false and unsubstantiated. While these early cases focused on false advertising and consumer protection law violations, recent cases have focused more on misleading ESG funds and investment products, net-zero targets, and carbon-neutral claims, sometimes coordinating claims across jurisdictions including the EU, UK, Australia, and the U.S.

Federal climate policy in the United States is undergoing significant turmoil. But what is happening on the other side of the Atlantic? The European Union continues to pursue policies that address climate change, including through reporting requirements and carbon trading and border taxes. European judges are also seeing more and more litigation related to these and other policies, meaning that court cases are increasingly playing a role in shaping the future direction of European climate policy.