(Vox) The Senate passed a significant bill on Thursday that effectively prevents employers, universities, and other institutions from immunizing themselves from lawsuits alleging sexual harassment or assault. The bill passed the House on Monday, and President Joe Biden is expected to sign it into law. The bill, known as the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual…

(sifted) The Atomico office in central London is an eco-warrior’s dream. The building is carbon-neutral, the in-house chef limits meat consumption and food waste, its giant annual report is printed on recycled paper and partners have guidelines to make working from home greener.  But the firm now wants its portfolio companies to get into shape…

(Medium) The world is changing. Venture capital is struggling to keep up. The best venture capital investors anticipate emerging trends, seize opportunities in untapped markets, and invest in the people who are inventing the future. But there’s a gaping hole in the current venture ecosystem’s investment strategy: a persistent lack of diversity. According to The…

(The Hill) In the summer of 2020, amid America’s national reckoning with its white supremacism and systemic racism, lovers of nature and conservation began to ask questions about how our national parks and other public lands fit into this reckoning.   They took a closer look at beautiful, nationally prized landscapes, like the Grand Canyon and…

(Fortune) JoAnn Price is used to busting venture capital stereotypes.  As an influential Black woman running 28-year-old Fairview Capital Partners—a pioneer of diversity-focused investing—that’s been her whole career. Back in the 1990s, she entered an industry that almost never backs or hires people who look like her. And while things are beginning to change—as a…

(Axios) Private equity is one of the world’s largest carbon emitters, by virtue of its outsized role in the global economy. That also means it has the opportunity to lead on carbon emissions reduction, and there are indications that the industry is moving in that direction. Driving the news: Carlyle Group this week committed to…

(Protocol) In her resignation letter Wednesday, Google ethical AI researcher Alex Hanna accused the company of having deep “rot” in its internal culture, “maintain[ing] white supremacy behind the veneer of race-neutrality” and being a workplace where those with “little interest in mitigating the worst harms” of its products are promoted at “lightning speed.” “I am…

(Business Wire) Today, The Ethical Tech Project, a multidisciplinary coalition that builds standards for an ethical internet with privacy at its core, announced the launch of its Privacy Advisory Board. In response to growing concerns about the ways in which Big Tech manages user data and privacy, the Board will outline the privacy steps every…

(The Financial Times) The independent oversight group that has become the arbiter of corporate climate action is reviewing its own governance practices, after coming under pressure as companies rush to develop net zero emission plans. The Science Based Targets initiative has fast become one of the most influential and trusted advisers on climate change to…

(GZERO) After years of uninhibited expansion into nearly all corners of modern life, consumer internet companies could this year face meaningful action to curb their activities from governments around the world. From Delhi to Dublin, Beijing to Brussels, and Washington to Warsaw, there is real momentum behind unprecedented legislation and stepped-up regulatory enforcement against big…