A 2026 Survival Guide to Sustainability & Product Compliance
This guide was published on 19th January, 2026. Further regulatory developments may have occurred after publication. To keep up-to-date with the latest compliance news, sign up to our newsletter.
Unlock expert insights and a definitive roadmap for navigating sustainability and product compliance in 2026.
A 2026 Survival Guide to Sustainability & Product Compliance: Guide Overview
The regulatory landscape for sustainability and product compliance has undergone significant change – and the pace isn’t slowing down, leaving compliance leaders facing growing complexity in 2026 and beyond.
Based on insights from our webinar in collaboration with Cooley, A 2025–2026 Survival Guide to Sustainability & Product Compliance, this guide highlights the most important regulatory developments shaping ESG, sustainability, and product compliance.
Whether you’re planning for imminent deadlines or building a longer-term compliance roadmap, this guide offers clarity where it’s needed most.
This Guide Covers
- The Simplification and Delay of EU Sustainability Laws
- The Evolving Global Sustainability Landscape
- The New Era Of EU General Product Safety (GPSR)
- The UK’s Independent Path via the PRAM Act
- US Regulatory Trends: Deregulation and State Fragmentation
- Life Sciences: Pharma and Medical Device Innovations
- Webinar Q&A: Real-world Questions From Your Compliance Peers Answered
Authors
Claire Temple, Partner, Cooley
Claire is a partner in Cooley’s product compliance and liability team. She specialises in advising clients on regulatory risk, compliance and litigation issues. She helps clients who deal with products and consumers. Claire works with them to help bring both digital and physical products to market, advising on labelling, packaging, regulatory approvals and engaging with regulators and consumers. She also has significant expertise in coordinating and delivering business critical international regulatory and compliance advice and delivering complex multi-jurisdictional projects.
Claire also advises clients when things go wrong – such as dealing with regulatory and compliance issues, crisis management, handling and coordinating regulatory crises, product recalls and product compliance matters, managing customer relations and claims and investigating and defending regulatory investigations and prosecutions.
Claire is recommended within the Product Liability category by the latest 2021 edition of the UK Legal 500.
Emma Bichet, Special Counsel, Cooley
Emma leads Cooley’s ESG (environmental, social and governance) and sustainability advisory practice in Europe. She has extensive experience advising on EU and UK ESG, sustainability and products law matters.
Emma has a strong grasp of ESG and products regulation, working with the world’s top companies to clarify their obligations in the EU and UK. She advises on the full range of sustainability issues, including reporting obligations under the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, supply chain diligence, forced labour, deforestation and product-related sustainability requirements, such as ecodesign, chemical compliance, packaging and recycling obligations. She also supports clients with their marketing and claims.
Emma has experience making complaints to the European Commission on behalf of her clients and supporting them in litigation before the EU courts. She regularly manages multijurisdictional compliance projects for her clients.
Emma is also very active in horizon spotting, keeping abreast of new EU, UK and global initiatives to assist clients wishing to provide input on the legislative process and adapt their business in time when new rules are developed.
Jessica Koffel, Special Counsel, Cooley
Jessica focuses on European law and the regulation of medicinal products and medical devices, including in vitro diagnostic medical devices. She helps guide life sciences companies through the regulatory processes and technical requirements governing the approval and marketing of their products – from classification, clinical trials and audits to promotion and marketing. Jessica provides strategic advice from the early development stages to placing on the market and post-marketing activities. She also assists clients in their interactions with regulatory authorities, notified bodies and business partners.
Prior to joining Cooley, Jessica worked as an associate in leading international law firms, where she focused on the EU regulation of life sciences products and chemicals.
Jessica is a native English and French speaker.
Philip Brown, Special Counsel, Cooley
Philip focuses on global product compliance and litigation. He advises innovative companies on product safety and consumer law, helping them navigate recalls, regulatory investigations, enforcement actions and complex disputes.
Drawing on more than 15 years of experience – including more than a decade in federal government compliance and enforcement roles at the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and Federal Trade Commission – Philip offers clients practical strategies and steady judgment in addressing today’s most complex regulatory challenges.
