#regulatory-rollback

#regulatory-rollback

Under the Conservatives' proposals, mandatory ESG disclosures, including a company's carbon footprint, diversity metrics and social governance data, would be made voluntary once again. ESG rules were initially introduced as a voluntary standard, allowing firms to demonstrate transparency around sustainability, workplace culture and board governance. Over the past decade, however, the measures have evolved into complex mandatory frameworks administered by regulators such as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), HMRC, and Companies House.

For The Verge's exclusive tour of these secretive labs, I watch researchers peer at cell chemistries down to the atomistic level, using electron microscopes. Others work at a larger scale, all the way up to the Megashaker. Inside a cavernous hall, an enormous sliding test chamber envelops one of GM's double-stacked, 205-kilowatt-hour battery packs - the type that powers hulking models like the Cadillac Escalade IQ.

In late July, the President launched his AI action plan. Packaged with three accompanying executive orders, the plan's first order of business is to "remove red tape and onerous regulation," including the overturning of the Biden administration's executive order on AI, which emphasized harm-prevention, guardrails, and government capacity-building. One very specific "guardrail" that the Trump administration has demolished is "woke AI"-AI that is trained to avoid the truth in favor of politically correct shibboleths.

In 2023, truck manufacturers struck a deal with the California Air Resources Board to drastically reduce emissions and invest in electric trucks. This summer, however, several of the companies - Daimler Truck, Volvo Group, Paccar and Traton - backed out of the partnership and sued California, with support from the Trump administration. Now fossil-fuel-aligned corporations are leveraging political connections to weaken oversight, erode environmental protections and entrench their dominance.