Florida AG Issues Civil Investigative Demands to Environmental Groups, Corporations on Packaging Standards

Florida's attorney general issued civil investigative demands to the U.S. Plastics Pact, the Consumer Goods Forum, the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, and corporate members Coca-Cola, Mondelez, Nestle, Target, and Unilever. The demands require the organizations and companies to turn over communications, documents, and records related to their coordinated packaging rules, including their 'problematic materials' lists.

The civil investigative demands target communications between the companies and the environmental groups that have collaborated on industry packaging practices, according to Bloomberg Law. The investigation started back when the attorney general led a coalition of attorneys general in sending letters directly to the environmental organizations, warning that their coordinated market activities raised serious antitrust concerns.

In February, the coalition, now expanded to 10 Republican attorneys general, sent letters to nearly 80 corporations warning that their continued participation in these organizations could expose them to antitrust liability. Nestle and Mondelez left the U.S. Plastics Pact.

Walmart and Mars did the same after concluding that their recycling targets were unrealistic and costly, and that they produced no real environmental benefit. Coca-Cola still aims to use recycled plastic in its packaging. Target still touts its membership in the U.S. Plastics Pact, working toward targets such as making all packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable.

What makes this investigation different from the letters that preceded it is the civil investigative demands themselves. A civil investigative demand is a legal instrument that requires companies and organizations to produce the documents and communications requested.

The Florida attorney general’s office is moving from talk to action, and it’s exactly the kind of enforcement that free market advocates have been awaiting. So what exactly are the civil investigative demands after? According to Bloomberg Law, the demands target communications between the companies and the environmental groups that have collaborated on industry packaging practices.

Separately, a group of state attorneys general sent a letter to the U.S. SEC and major credit-rating firms, expressing concerns regarding the incorporation of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into decisions on credit rating downgrades.