Covington Named Finalist for 2024 Community Impact Leaders Award by The National Law Journal

Washington—The National Law Journal named Covington an ESG and Community Impact Leader finalist for the third consecutive year. This award honors firms focused on legal leadership in the Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) field. Finalists were chosen based on the impact of their legal initiatives on communities and stakeholders.

Covington’s global and multidisciplinary ESG practice advises companies, investors, and other stakeholders on the rapidly evolving developments related to emerging ESG and sustainability issues. Our ESG lawyers and advisors help our clients meet the most complex business, legal, and regulatory challenges in the ESG space. 2023 saw Covington increasingly assisting clients to navigate ESG reporting requirements in the EU, California, and more broadly, covering all aspects of ESG reporting and target setting, from human rights to climate change.

Some of the highlights from the past year for Covington's ESG practice included:

• Facilitating the Coalition for Green Capital to secure a $5 billion grant from EPA's National Clean Investment Fund.
• Preparing a report on freedom of expression in Cameroon that was submitted to the UN Human Rights Council. The report called attention to the persecution of Cameroonian journalists in violation of international law.
• Advising The Nature Conservancy in its efforts to help define critical issues in the international market for carbon reductions developed pursuant to Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
• Representing a coalition of U.S. utilities in litigation to defend EPA's rule, reinstating the waiver it previously granted to California to enforce its own GHG and zero-emission vehicle standards. Covington successfully defended their authority against arguments that the provision of the Clean Air Act authorizing California to establish more stringent vehicle standards was unconstitutional. California's ability to enforce its own tailpipe standards has been critical to cleaning up the state's air.

The National Law Journal Legal Awards 2024 winners will be announced at an event in Washington, DC, on October 24.