In the daily email update from Bloomberg Green very early this morning, Tim Quinson said:
By November, around the time US midterm elections are held, investors will likely learn the fate of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s plan for more comprehensive corporate climate disclosures.
I am not certain we will see the final rule adopted quite that soon, but there is no doubt that companies need to begin preparing for a final rule. Quinson continues, saying that
It’s possible the SEC will water down specifics of the plan before holding a second vote to finalize the regulation. But the idea that the SEC will retract its plan is arguably close to zero, even as the expected political firestorm from right-wing groups grows.
Over on TheCorporateCounsel.net, our own Dave Lynn – who looks at it from a legal perspective after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency – agrees:
It seems pretty unlikely to me that the SEC would withdraw its climate change disclosure proposal in light of the West Virginia decision, but perhaps the authority considerations in a post-West Virginia world could be taken into account by the agency when it is considering the adoption of final rules.
It is evident that you need to be making plans for this unprecedented disclosure. Of course, today is our special webcast event “Preparing for Your Climate Disclosure.” Registration has been so feverish we had to buy additional virtual conference seats twice, although yesterday we may have had to buy a third round if I understood things correctly. There are still openings if you have not yet signed up. Our expert panelists will provide unique and valuable perspectives to help you begin planning right now, plus we finally unveil our Sample Disclosure.
Our 58-page Sample SEC Climate Disclosure includes example text and tables, along with annotated guidance on key elements of the proposed disclosure. The document was developed by SEC reporting lawyers (John Jenkins and Dave Lynn), while I added technical perspectives on the emissions inventory – so it already benefits from a multi-disciplinary origin. It was also benchmarked against a handful of leading companies’ voluntary climate disclosures. The value of our Sample Disclosure will be immediately evident to anyone involved in developing similar reports for their company or clients.
Following the conclusion of the conference (4pm eastern):
- event attendees will have complimentary access to course materials consisting of a detailed checklist on what to do now to get your company ready for the disclosure. This includes our own lessons learned from developing our Sample SEC Climate Disclosure based on the SEC proposal.
- PracticalESG.com members will have exclusive access to our Sample SEC Climate Disclosure.
We hope you will join us this afternoon.
