There is an increased focus from certain investors, customers, consumers, employees, and other stakeholders concerning corporate citizenship and sustainability matters. From time to time, we may announce certain initiatives, including goals, regarding our focus areas, which include environmental matters, packaging, responsible sourcing and social investments. We could fail, or be perceived to fail, in our achievement of such initiatives or goals, or we could fail in accurately reporting our progress on such initiatives and goals. In addition, we could be criticized for the scope of such initiatives or goals or perceived as not acting responsibly in connection with these matters. Any such matters, or related corporate citizenship and sustainability matters, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, a variety of organizations measure the performance of companies on environmental, social, and governance ("ESG") topics, and the results of these assessments are widely publicized. Investment in funds that specialize in companies that perform well in such assessments are increasingly popular, and major institutional investors have publicly emphasized the importance of such ESG measures to their investment decisions. Topics taken into account in such assessments include, among others, the company's efforts and impacts on climate change and human rights, ethics and compliance with law, and the role of the company's board of directors in supervising various sustainability issues.
Furthermore, ESG-related legislation and regulation is being implemented across the world, including in the United States, and any such legislation or regulation may impose additional compliance burdens on us and on third parties in our value chain, which could potentially result in increased administrative costs, decreased demand in the marketplace for our products, and/or increased costs for our supplies and products. For example, in March 2024, the SEC adopted final rules to require public companies to disclose certain climate-related information. The final SEC rules, to the extent they are implemented, will require us to disclose, among other things, material climate-related risks, activities to mitigate or adapt to such risks, information about our board of directors' oversight of climate-related risks and management's role in managing material climate-related risks, and information on any climate-related targets or goals that are material to our business, results of operations or financial condition. We are assessing our obligations under these new regulations but expect that our efforts to comply will require significant expenditures, which will then increase our operating expenses. On March 21, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit was selected as the court to hear challenges against the SEC over its final climate disclosure rules. On April 4, 2024, the SEC announced that it would voluntarily stay its final climate disclosure rules pending judicial review.
We take into consideration the expected impact of ESG matters on the sustainability of our business over time and the potential impact of our business on society and the environment. However, in light of investors' increased focus on ESG matters, and in light of increased and evolving legislation and regulation regarding ESG matters, there can be no certainty that we will manage such issues successfully, or that we will successfully meet our customers' or society's expectations as to our proper role. If we fail to meet the ESG values, standards and metrics that we set for ourselves, or our articulated purposes to offer inclusive, accessible, clean, vegan and cruelty free cosmetics and skin care products, or fail to align to regulatory or market expectations or standards regarding such matters, we may experience negative publicity and a loss of customers as a result, which will adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.