Yesterday, Sarah Bloom Raskin, who had previously served as a Federal Reserve governor and deputy Treasury secretary during the Obama administration, withdrew her nomination to be the Federal Reserve's vice chair of...more
According to media reports, the SEC has announced that it will "propose rules mandating disclosure from publicly traded companies about climate change and associated risks" on March 21st....more
As indicated by the sample comment letter provided by the SEC in September 2021, the SEC has begun issuing comment letters to companies concerning climate disclosure issues in their filings. To date, there do not appear to...more
The Biden Administration has clearly announced that addressing the issue of climate change is one of its key policy priorities. One of the central aspects of this policy was intended to be an array of new regulations by the...more
SEC Commissioner Alison Herren Lee recently availed herself of the opportunity presented by the re-opening of the comment file on the Dodd-Frank rule "requiring companies to disclose the relationship between executive...more
It has been publicly reported that the Dallas office of the SEC is currently engaged in an investigation of ESG disclosures by companies doing business with state government entities in Texas. Specifically, the SEC is...more
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently announced a plan to compel companies to issue climate-related financial disclosures. Specifically, Prime Minister Trudeau sent mandate letters to Deputy Prime Minister and...more
Last week, SEC Commissioner Crenshaw--one of the Democratic members of the SEC Commission--addressed the Center for American Progress and the Sierra Club, and availed herself of the opportunity to once again vocally express...more
Yesterday, the Singapore Exchange announced that "[a]ll issuers must provide climate reporting on a 'comply or explain' basis in their sustainability reports" stating in FY 2022, and that these "climate-related disclosures"...more
Yesterday, SEC Commissioner Pierce--one of two Republican SEC Commissioners--availed herself of the opportunity presented by a statement concerning the budget of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board ("PCAOB") to...more
This week, the SEC's Acting Chief Accountant, Paul Munter, issued a statement concerning "High Quality Financial Reporting in a Complex Environment." This statement touched on a number of matters, including the...more
In a recent speech, SEC Commissioner Crenshaw, one of the Democratic appointees to the Commission, focused on the role internal controls play in assessing and monitoring ESG risks. Specifically, after noting that the SEC...more
SEC Chairman Gensler, in a set of prepared remarks before the Investor Advisory Committee that focused on cryptocurrency, nonetheless availed himself of the opportunity to once again emphasize that "investors . . . are...more
This week, the SEC issued a new staff legal bulletin concerning shareholder proposals, which stated, as a matter of SEC policy, that proposals "request[ing] companies adopt timeframes or targets to address climate change" are...more
The Supreme Court recently agreed to hear an appeal of the D.C. Circuit's decision to strike down Trump-era restrictions--which were quite weak--on coal-burning power plants. The Court's ruling here may limit the ability of...more
On October 20th, SEC Commissioner Lee delivered a speech focused on the regulations concerning climate disclosures that the SEC is expected to issue soon. (Indeed, Commissioner Lee emphasized that these regulations are...more
Last week, during a program on "Building the Financial System of the 21st Century," in the course of a speech principally focused on various market risks, SEC Commissioner Crenshaw nonetheless availed herself of the...more
Yesterday, the SEC released a sample letter to companies concerning climate change disclosures. Relying upon the guidance the SEC issued over ten years ago--the 2010 Climate Change Guidance--the SEC noted that certain...more
Last week, Fitch Ratings announced the launch of new ESG ratings system, which is intended to use a "clear methodolog[y]," of a "full assessment of ESG performance" that "allow[s] for detailed comparability." This...more
Yesterday, SEC Chairman Gensler testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. His remarks were wide-ranging, and touched on a number of different subjects, but importantly he re-affirmed the...more
The Wall Street Journal has reported on a government investigation into DWS, an entity that is majority-owned by Deutschebank, in connection with potential misrepresentations concerning the ESG investing strategy disclosed by...more
The SEC recently approved two proposals by NASDAQ concerning board diversity. Specifically, the proposals would "require each Nasdaq listed company, subject to certain exceptions, to publicly disclose . . . information on...more
8/10/2021
/ Board of Directors ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Gender Identity ,
LGBTQ ,
Nasdaq ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholders ,
Transparency
On August 9, 2021, the IPCC released its Sixth Assessment Report (https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/#SPM), which emphasized the dangers of climate change, and that many of the risks associated with climate change are now...more
In a speech yesterday in a webinar hosted by the Principles for Responsible Investment, SEC Chairman Gensler offered additional clarity on his thoughts concerning mandatory disclosures about climate risk.
First,...more
Yesterday, SEC Commissioner Pierce--one of two Republicans serving as an SEC Commissioner--delivered a speech criticizing the "potential ESG rulemaking."...more