Download or read book SEC Climate Change Disclosure Guidance written by Gary Shorter and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Issues regarding the Congressional appeal of the January 27, 2010 SEC-published 'Commission Guidance Regarding Disclosure Related to Climate Change', which clarifies how publicly traded corporations should apply existing SEC disclosure rules to certain mandatory financial filings with the SEC regarding the risk that climate change developments may have on their businesses.

Download or read book Climate Change Disclosure and Financial Risk written by Carolyn S. Lawrence and published by Nova Science Publishers. This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Publicly traded companies are required to transparently disclose material business risks to investors through regular filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). On January 27, 2010, the SEC voted to publish "Commission Guidance Regarding Disclosure Related to Climate Change", which clarifies how publicly traded corporations should apply existing SEC disclosure rules to certain mandatory financial filings with the SEC regarding the risk that climate change developments may have on their businesses. The Guidance has been controversial and has prompted the legislation in the 112th Congress to repeal it. This book provides an overview of the Guidance, with a focus on opposing views; congressional legislation; potential corporate costs and benefits of implementing the Guidance; and the impact of the Guidance from the perspective of investors, corporations, and finance professionals.

Download or read book Commission Guidance Regarding Disclosure Related to Climate Change Us Securities and Exchange Commission Regulation Sec 2018 Edition written by The Law Library and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2019-01-25 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Law Library presents the complete text of the Commission Guidance Regarding Disclosure Related to Climate Change (US Securities and Exchange Commission Regulation) (SEC) (2018 Edition). Updated as of May 29, 2018 The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC" or "Commission") is publishing this interpretive release to provide guidance to public companies regarding the Commission's existing disclosure requirements as they apply to climate change matters. This ebook contains: - The complete text of the Commission Guidance Regarding Disclosure Related to Climate Change (US Securities and Exchange Commission Regulation) (SEC) (2018 Edition) - A dynamic table of content linking to each section - A table of contents in introduction presenting a general overview of the structure

Download or read book SEC and Climate written by Patricia Barmeyer and published by LexisNexis/Matthew Bender. This book was released on 2010 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A One Year Review of SEC Interpretive Release on Climate Change Disclosures written by Alexis Brown Stokes and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In February, 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued Interpretive Release 33-9106 "to provide guidance to public companies regarding... existing disclosure requirements as they apply to climate change matters." In its release, the SEC identified climate change-related issues potentially requiring disclosure under Regulation S-K, including the impact of legislation and regulation, the effect of international accords or treaties, the indirect consequences of regulation, and the physical impacts of climate change. One year later, this paper examines the effect of 33-9106 by exploring the extent to which Fortune 500 firms have disclosed these and other matters related to climate change. The paper also considers whether and what additional apposite regulation or legislation may be necessary to clarify disclosure obligations.

Download or read book Managing Climate Risk in the U S Financial System written by Leonardo Martinez-Diaz and published by U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission . This book was released on 2020-09-09 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This publication serves as a roadmap for exploring and managing climate risk in the U.S. financial system. It is the first major climate publication by a U.S. financial regulator. The central message is that U.S. financial regulators must recognize that climate change poses serious emerging risks to the U.S. financial system, and they should move urgently and decisively to measure, understand, and address these risks. Achieving this goal calls for strengthening regulators’ capabilities, expertise, and data and tools to better monitor, analyze, and quantify climate risks. It calls for working closely with the private sector to ensure that financial institutions and market participants do the same. And it calls for policy and regulatory choices that are flexible, open-ended, and adaptable to new information about climate change and its risks, based on close and iterative dialogue with the private sector. At the same time, the financial community should not simply be reactive—it should provide solutions. Regulators should recognize that the financial system can itself be a catalyst for investments that accelerate economic resilience and the transition to a net-zero emissions economy. Financial innovations, in the form of new financial products, services, and technologies, can help the U.S. economy better manage climate risk and help channel more capital into technologies essential for the transition. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5247742

Download or read book Law and Policy of Corporate Sustainability Disclosures written by Jon A. Baumunk and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 15 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On February 2, 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued interpretive guidance regarding public companies' existing disclosure requirements for climate change matters. The interpretive guidance was adopted by a vote of three to two. According to Schwartz et al. (2010), the interpretive guidance “sends a clear signal that the SEC expects public companies to pay closer attention to the evaluation of both climate change risks and opportunities when determining whether, how much and what kind of disclosure is warranted” (para. 13). According to Bryan (1997) and Clarkson et al. (1999), management's discussion and analysis (MD&A) is potentially “a useful source of information for investors” (as cited in Cohen, Gaynor, Krishnamoorthy, & Wright, 2007, p. 181). This includes climate change related data.However, “[s]ome information is of such dubious significance that insistence on its disclosure may accomplish more harm than good” (TSC Industries, Inc. v. Northway, Inc., 1976, p. 448). “Management's fear of exposing itself to substantial liability may cause it simply to bury the shareholders in an avalanche of trivial information a result that is hardly conducive to informed decisionmaking” (TSC Industries, Inc. v. Northway, Inc., 1976, p. 448-449). According to Commissioner Elisse Walter (2010), “company analyses and determinations whether information is material and required to be disclosed involve judgment” (para. 9).The regulatory system's goal “should be to guide corporations in being responsive to the expectations and demands of its stakeholders” (Hess, 2001, p. 324). “[M]ost socio-economic decisions have different impacts on various groups and individuals” (Tinker & Lowe, 1980, p. 2). Therefore, a “value-free” method of weighing the stakeholders' respective interests does not exist (Tinker & Lowe, 1980). In any judgment about a corporation's overall performance, assigning a weighting to various stakeholder interests is inescapable (Tinker & Lowe, 1980). According to Commissioner Kathleen Casey (2010), the interpretive guidance goes beyond the SEC's “fundamental investor protection mission” (para. 8). Since reporting framework and audit problems exist and companies are voluntarily making climate change related disclosures, I agree.

Download or read book Values at Work written by Daniel C. Esty and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-10-26 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sustainable investing is a rapidly growing and evolving field. With investors expressing ever greater interest in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics and reporting, companies face a sustainability imperative and the need to remake their business models to respond to an array of pressing issues including climate change, air and water pollution, racial justice, workplace diversity, economic inequality, privacy, corporate integrity, and good governance. From equities to fixed income and from private equity to impact-investing, investors of all kinds now want to understand which companies will be marketplace leaders in a business future redefined by sustainability. Thus, investment strategies, risk models, financial vehicles, applications, data, metrics, standards, and regulations are all changing rapidly around the world. In an effort to better understand the current status and movement of this dynamic field and to provide a practical reference for the growing pool of investors, financial advisors, companies, and academics seeking information on sustainable investing and ESG reporting, this edited book covers the latest trends, tools, and thinking. It showcases the work of authors from leading companies and academic institutions across a range of vital topics such as financial disclosure, portfolio assessment, ESG metrics construction, and law as well as regulation. Readers of the book will be better able to identify and address the hurdles to moving mainstream capital toward more sustainable companies, investments, and projects.

Download or read book Essay written by J. Robert Brown and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) has proposed a rule that addresses the disclosure needs of investors with respect to climate change. The proposal would require that public companies tell investors about the risks to their business associated with climate change and explain the system and strategy of governance for monitoring those risks. In addition, the proposal would mandate the disclosure of certain greenhouse gas emissions. The SEC's proposal arrived contemporaneously with the Supreme Court's announcement of the “major questions” doctrine. A deliberate attempt to limit the authority of the executive branch, the doctrine would restrict agencies from adopting rules on politically or economically important topics unless “clearly” authorized by Congress. The doctrine in part arises out of a deep-seated suspicion of agency motivations for regulatory action in politically sensitive areas. While still under construction, the fundamental tenet of the doctrine is that certain policy decisions are reserved for Congress unless specifically given to agencies. Reliance on the major questions doctrine presupposes a colorable claim of authority under the relevant statute. Climate change disclosure falls neatly into the SEC's longstanding and broad regulatory authority and can be characterized as not particularly novel, with any differences from past practices mostly a matter of degree. Investors want the information. The proposal mostly imposes disclosure requirements that fit within longstanding categories and focus on the materiality of the information. Moreover, environmental matters have been explicitly integrated into the disclosure process since the 1970s. This, however, only begins the analysis. The importance of the information to investors may not, therefore enough for the current Court. To the extent characterized as novel, particularly with respect to the disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions, the SEC will need to establish sufficient limiting principles. These arise less form the particular topic and more from the need for, and purpose of, the rule. In adopting the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Congress confronted an existing but inadequate system of corporate disclosure. The system did not sufficiently protect investors and resulted in the misallocation of capital. The SEC was expected not to devise an entirely new system of disclosure but to fix one already in place. In the case of climate change disclosure, most of the issuer-oriented information comes from voluntary disclosure in the form of sustainability and other types of reports not filed with the SEC. The system has yielded a voluminous amount of information that, from the investor perspective, is inconsistent, non-comparable and unreliable. Issuers, for example, routinely disclose emission reduction targets. Under the system of voluntary disclosure, however, the targets often lack sufficient accompanying detail for investors to determine whether they are supported by comprehensive plans or are mostly public relations ploys. The system of voluntary disclosure limits the oversight role of the Commission, reduces the importance of the periodic reporting process, and contributes to the misallocation of capital. The SEC's climate change proposal is designed to address these failings. Indeed, inactivity would amount to a policy decision to push investors towards a largely unregulated disclosure environment in a manner inconsistent with what Congress intended in adopting the Exchange Act. This paper briefly discusses the “major questions” doctrine then looks at the history of the Exchange Act and the disclosure regime that existed prior to the adoption of the legislation. The problems associated with climate change disclosure strongly resemble those that existed when Congress acted during the Great Depression. Whatever limits may or may not exist on the authority to require disclosure in the first instance, the SEC was given the authority to ensure the efficacy of disclosure regimes arising from private ordering that failed to meet the needs of investors and caused a misallocation of capital.

Download or read book Moving Beyond Modern Portfolio Theory written by Jon Lukomnik and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-04-29 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Moving Beyond Modern Portfolio Theory: Investing That Matters tells the story of how Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) revolutionized the investing world and the real economy, but is now showing its age. MPT has no mechanism to understand its impacts on the environmental, social and financial systems, nor any tools for investors to mitigate the havoc that systemic risks can wreck on their portfolios. It’s time for MPT to evolve. The authors propose a new imperative to improve finance’s ability to fulfil its twin main purposes: providing adequate returns to individuals and directing capital to where it is needed in the economy. They show how some of the largest investors in the world focus not on picking stocks, but on mitigating systemic risks, such as climate change and a lack of gender diversity, so as to improve the risk/return of the market as a whole, despite current theory saying that should be impossible. "Moving beyond MPT" recognizes the complex relations between investing and the systems on which capital markets rely, "Investing that matters" embraces MPT’s focus on diversification and risk adjusted return, but understands them in the context of the real economy and the total return needs of investors. Whether an investor, an MBA student, a Finance Professor or a sustainability professional, Moving Beyond Modern Portfolio Theory: Investing That Matters is thought-provoking and relevant. Its bold critique shows how the real world already is moving beyond investing orthodoxy.

Download or read book Supply Chain Risks written by United States Government Accountability Office and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-09-23 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Disruptions to global supply chains, such as those caused by natural disasters, can hurt economic growth and productivity around the world. These events may pose risks to private-sector companies by, for example, disrupting supply chains. Under federal securities laws, certain companies are required to disclose specified information in annual filings with SEC. SEC issued guidance in 2010 to assist companies in satisfying these disclosure requirements as they apply to climate change matters. This report examines (1) the types of climate-related supply chain risks companies are disclosing in their SEC filings and other channels through which companies may disclose climate-related supply chain risks; (2) how SEC considers climate-related supply chain risks when monitoring and enforcing compliance with disclosure requirements; and (3) what actions, if any, SEC has taken to identify climate-related supply chain risk information that investors may need. GAO reviewed SEC's disclosure requirements and guidance; queried SEC's filings system to identify examples of climate-related risks disclosed by companies; interviewed SEC staff and representatives of stakeholder groups, such as nongovernmental organizations that work with investors, companies, and public interest groups; reviewed some nongovernmental organization, foreign government, and company websites

Download or read book The SEC and Climate written by Patricia Barmeyer and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Climate Disclosure Line Drawing Securities Regulation written by Virginia E. Harper Ho and published by . This book was released on 2023 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The SEC's efforts to standardize climate disclosure have revealed deep divides among the public and among corporate and securities law scholars about the proper scope and goals of climate disclosure reform. This controversy comes at a time when investor demand for ESG investment products is rising exponentially and when other regulators worldwide are already moving to standardize how climate risk and other ESG information is reported to investors.This Article clarifies the line-drawing choices behind mandatory climate risk disclosure, explains the established frameworks for corporate climate reporting that regulators internationally are building upon, and identifies how both have informed the SEC's proposed climate disclosure rules. This Article contributes to the debates over ESG disclosure mandates by exploring the boundaries and intersections of climate risk and broader ESG concepts and by considering the potential liability implications of mandatory climate risk disclosure. It concludes by explaining the impact and limits of the SEC's line-drawing choices and outlining steps that could be taken to better achieve the goals of the proposed reforms and perhaps to move beyond them.

Download or read book Climate Risk Technical Bulletin written by Sustainability Accounting Standards Board and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-01-19 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: SASB's Technical Bulletin on Climate Risk is designed to help investors better understand, measure and manage their exposure to climate-related risk. The research finds that climate change affects 72 out of 79 industries (93 percent of the capital markets, or $27.5 trillion) but manifests differently from one industry to the next. Due to the ubiquity of climate risk, investors can't simply diversify away from it; instead they must focus on managing it-and on encouraging portfolio companies to manage it-in all its forms. The foreword to the guide, authored by former Secretaries of the Treasury Robert Rubin and Hank Paulson, emphasizes the need for better disclosure. "If investors are to effectively evaluate climate risk, they need a far better understanding of granular, industry-specific climate impacts, with industry-specific standards by which to evaluate corporate performance on these issues. By adopting a set of industry-based market standards for disclosure, especially in SEC filings, investors will be able to accurately compare and contrast companies," they write. "This latest SASB bulletin is a good next step toward this goal, and offers for the first time a comprehensive guide to understand and measure the unique climate impacts across all industries of the economy."

Download or read book Chilling Climate Change Disclosure written by J. Robert Brown and published by . This book was released on 2023 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Regulation of Environmental and Social Governance (ESG) disclosure is necessary to ensure investors receive the information they want to have. Fortunately, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is considering adopting ESG rules. Unfortunately, such rules, if adopted, are likely to be ineffective. New ESG disclosure rules are going to fail for the same reason periodic disclosure rules have been ineffective: managers of publicly-traded companies systematically escape liability for failure to disclose material information to investors. Management escapes liability by pressuring securities lawyers to erroneously advise the companies that material information need not be disclosed, only to then turn around and rely on the lawyers' erroneous advice to justify nondisclosure. Securities lawyers, in turn, escape accountability for their erroneous advice because they face antiquated and underenforced disciplinary rules. Consequently, the enabling role of corporate counsel in management misstatements of material information results in a chilling disclosure problem. The Article starts by documenting the ubiquitous role securities lawyers play in the disclosure process and shows how lawyers' involvement leads to nondisclosure, which systematically benefits management and harms the public. Next, the Article establishes that the rules of professional conduct are antiquated and poorly fit the practice realities of securities lawyers and that the existing rules are underenforced by state disciplinary agencies ill-equipped to regulate the national securities practice. It also shows why other regulatory tools, such as the threat of civil liability and market controls, do not prevent lawyers' erroneous nondisclosure advice. Finally, the Article calls on the SEC to solve the chilling disclosure problem by promulgating and enforcing appropriate rules, spelled out in the Article, to ensure disclosure of periodic and ESG material information to the investing public. Importantly, the Article develops a workable solution to address the failure of periodic disclosure and avoid ESG nondisclosure, without getting bogged down in the hired gun versus gatekeeper discourse that has dominated the literature for a while. Proponents of the hired gun ideology of corporate law practice argue that lawyers ought to defer to management unless they know the conduct to be criminal or fraudulent. Critics, vocal especially following expensive corporate scandals, assert that lawyers should act as gatekeepers and dissuade clients from wrongdoing. This Article points out that when it comes to fixing the chilling disclosure problem, theoretical disagreements about the Should - what lawyers should do - can be left for another day. Instead, the Article focuses on the Is - what lawyers actually do. Securities lawyers give advice about compliance with the law and because they face pressure from management to give erroneous advice but no consequences for doing so, they systematically advise nondisclosure. The SEC must promulgate and enforce rules that prevent securities lawyers from giving erroneous nondisclosure advice to ensure companies comply with mandatory disclosure of periodic and ESG material information.

Download or read book Modernization of Oil and Gas Reporting Us Securities and Exchange Commission Regulation Sec 2018 Edition written by The Law Library and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2019-01-28 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Law Library presents the complete text of the Modernization of Oil and Gas Reporting (US Securities and Exchange Commission Regulation) (SEC) (2018 Edition). Updated as of May 29, 2018 The Commission is adopting revisions to its oil and gas reporting disclosures which exist in their current form in Regulation S-K and Regulation S-X under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as well as Industry Guide 2. The revisions are intended to provide investors with a more meaningful and comprehensive understanding of oil and gas reserves, which should help investors evaluate the relative value of oil and gas companies. In the three decades that have passed since adoption of these disclosure items, there have been significant changes in the oil and gas industry. The amendments are designed to modernize and update the oil and gas disclosure requirements to align them with current practices and changes in technology. The amendments concurrently align the full cost accounting rules with the revised disclosures. The amendments also codify and revise Industry Guide 2 in Regulation S-K. In addition, they harmonize oil and gas disclosures by foreign private issuers with the disclosures for domestic issuers. This ebook contains: - The complete text of the Modernization of Oil and Gas Reporting (US Securities and Exchange Commission Regulation) (SEC) (2018 Edition) - A dynamic table of content linking to each section - A table of contents in introduction presenting a general overview of the structure

Download or read book Biodiversity Finance and the Economic and Business Case for Action written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2019-12-06 with total page 125 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report sets the economic and business case for urgent and ambitious action on biodiversity. It presents a preliminary assessment of current biodiversity-related finance flows, and discusses the key data and indicator gaps that need to be addressed to underpin effective monitoring of both the pressures on biodiversity and the actions (i.e. responses) being implemented. The report concludes with ten priority areas where G7 and other countries can prioritise their efforts.