Experts: What to expect ahead of SEC climate-related disclosure rule vote - Compliance Week
Experts: What to expect ahead of SEC climate-related disclosure rule vote | Premium | Compliance Week
Experts: What to expect ahead of SEC climate-related disclosure rule vote
By Aaron Nicodemus 2024-03-05T22:06:00
Nearly two years after it was first proposed, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is finally poised to approve its climate-related disclosure rule—albeit a watered-down version, by all indications.
The agency’s highly anticipated—or dreaded, depending on your point of view—rule, as proposed back in March 2022, sought to require public companies to include disclosures about how climate-related risks affect their strategy, business model, and outlook; how the company’s board and management oversee climate-related issues; and any plans for transition to a lower carbon footprint.
But the proposal received more than 16,000 comments, with many expressing concern regarding requirements that public companies gather and report their Scope 3 emissions and whether climate-related disclosures would be grounded in materiality.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate legislation
The federal government and states are in the process of implementing two laws — the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act — an investment of more than a trillion dollars to address climate change.