Remember SEC’s Climate and ESG Task Force? If not, you need to refresh yourself – we’ve written about them and some of their activities here. Companies seem to be taking notice with more of them disclosing potential Task Force enforcement as a business risk in their 10-Ks. Bloomberg reports:
“The Climate and ESG Task Force the Securities and Exchange Commission, which was launched two years ago, was mentioned among the risk factors in 30 companies’ 10-K annual reports so far this year with about six months to go, according to a Bloomberg Law review of company filings. That’s double the 15 companies that referenced it in their 10-K risk factors in all of 2022.”
Even if SEC’s climate disclosure rule is not finalized this year, ESG disclosures present a regulatory risk for US publicly traded companies. It is important to make certain that corporate ESG reports are consistent with financial reporting in terms of materiality determinations, data presented and risk assessments.
