Today’s ESG Updates
- U.S. Supreme Court Backs Trump in Major Agency Firing Case: The decision allows dismissal of independent commissioners without cause, reshaping limits on executive power.
- World Bank Drops 45% Climate Lending Target: The lender is retiring its climate finance targets in favor of an outcome-based approach centered on “smart development.”
- EU Slashes Duty-Free Steel Import Quotas by 47%: Measures aim to increase steel capacity utilization and counter global overcapacity, protecting domestic producers.
- Renewables Lead Global Energy Supply Growth: Low-carbon electricity met all new power demand, despite fossil fuels remaining dominant overall.
U.S. Supreme Court overturns 90-year precedent on presidential power over independent agencies
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled 6–3 that Donald Trump can fire leaders of independent federal agencies, ending a 90-year precedent that had limited presidential removal power over regulatory bodies.
The case, Trump v Slaughter, stemmed from Trump’s 2025 dismissal of Federal Trade Commission commissioner Rebecca Slaughter by email. Slaughter sued, arguing she was fired without cause, and a lower court ordered her reinstatement. The administration argued that the court should overturn the 1935 Humphrey’s Executor ruling, which had protected FTC-style commissioners from at-will dismissal.
The court’s decision marks a major shift in the balance between the White House and independent regulators. Dissenting justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson said the decision “undoes centuries of political practice.” Lauren McFerran, former National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) chair, warned that “eliminating these removal protections would jeopardize all facets of agency independence”.
Trump celebrated the decision on Truth Social, calling the ruling a “historic and unprecedented” expansion of presidential power.
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Further reading: US Supreme Court rules Trump can fire leaders of independent agencies
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World Bank drops 45% climate lending target
The World Bank has scrapped its target of allocating 45% of annual lending to projects with climate co-benefits.
The lender will retire the target introduced in 2023, shifting focus from input goals to lending outcomes. It will instead prioritize “smart development,” which combines outcomes including job creation, climate resilience and economic growth.
The move follows sustained pressure from the Trump administration, which argued the Bank had drifted beyond its core development mandate by focusing too heavily on climate finance targets.
The Climate Change Action Plan, due to expire on June 30, has been extended and will undergo an independent review at the request of the World Bank’s executive board. The Bank said it would continue reporting on climate indicators, including greenhouse gas emissions and resilience, while exploring ways to better structure its “engagement on adaptation, nature and pollution.”
The Bank has also dropped its target of allocating 35% of lending to climate-related projects.
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Further reading: Update on the World Bank Group Climate Change Action Plan
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EU cuts duty-free steel imports to shield domestic industry
The European Commission has unveiled new steel import quotas that will cut annual duty-free steel imports into the EU by 47%, as it seeks to protect the bloc’s steel industry from global overcapacity and unfair trade practices.
Under the new rules, which take effect on July 1, annual tariff-free import quotas will fall to 18.3 million metric tonnes. Imports exceeding those quotas across 26 steel product categories will face a 50% tariff.
The Commission said the measures are designed to increase steel production capacity utilization in the EU to 80%. In this way, they will restore “fair competition in a market affected by distortions linked to overcapacity” and dumping.
Half of the quotas have been reserved for countries with EU free trade agreements, with quota allocations proportional to historic trade volumes.
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Further reading: New rules to protect EU steel industry from damaging impacts of global overcapacity enter into application
Renewables become the largest driver of global energy growth
Renewables were the largest source of global energy supply growth in 2025 for the first time outside a recession, according to the Energy Institute’s latest Statistical Review.
Total energy supply rose 1.7% in 2025, while renewable generation grew 10%, with solar accounting for 71% of the increase.
Electricity demand increased by 3.0%, outpacing overall energy demand, and, for the first time, all additional electricity demand was met by low-carbon sources. The report said electric vehicles, data centers and artificial intelligence were key drivers of growth, with more than a quarter of new cars sold globally in 2025 being electric.
Despite the rapid expansion of clean energy, fossil fuels still accounted for 86% of the total energy supply, and global energy-related CO₂ emissions rose 1.1% to 35.8 gigatonnes, with more than a third of the increase coming from the United States.
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Further reading: Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by the authors are their own, not those of impakter.com — In the Cover Photo: President Donald J. Trump meeting with GOP leadership at the US Capitol, June 24, 2026. Cover Photo Credit: The White House.
