Pushing back against SEC's Big Green agenda

 PJ Media:

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently proposed a new disclosure rule called “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors.” The proposed rule would require public companies to disclose their climate-related risks to investors. The reporting framework is the first significant step toward making environmental, social, and governmental (ESG) reporting a regulatory requirement.

Twenty-three state financial officers sent a letter to the SEC outlining concerns with the proposed rule. The State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) led the effort on behalf of its members and identified eight specific problems with the proposed rule:

  1. The SEC is not a climate regulator, and this rule lies outside the scope of the SEC’s responsibilities.
  2. This proposed rule violates the First Amendment because it will force company leadership to speak extensively about their impacts on climate change, even if they disagree with the assessment of climate risks.
  3. The proposed rule does not consider impacts on everyday Americans investing in an unstable economic environment.
  4. This proposed rule would be extremely costly for issuers because they would need to account for climate risks throughout their supply chain, and there is no apparent benefit to these increased costs.
  5. The proposed rule indulges in climate exceptionalism elevating climate concerns above pertinent economic risks.
  6. It fails to consider relying on the EPA’s existing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions registry, which already requires disclosures for environmental issues.
  7. A justification for this proposed rule is comparable data, but it fails to provide a method to enable comparisons across issuers.
  8. The decision to require additional disclosures has been prejudged by the SEC Acting Chair, who has not allowed the proposed rule to have fair and full consideration.

“It is disheartening but not surprising to see activist behavior from the SEC as it continues to promote rules and policies which prioritize polarizing political agendas over fiduciary duties to investors and issuers,” SFOF Chief Executive Officer Derek Kreifels said. “This proposed rule is well out of the scope of SEC’s authority, and we highly encourage them to address our concerns about using ESG as a political weapon against consumers.” He added that the SFOF is not seeking a “conservative” fund manager. It wants funds managed from a neutral perspective for the benefit of the investors.

...

Climate risks usually involve events that can't always be predicted.  No one can forecast when a 100 or a 1000-year flood event may happen or when a tornado may blow through their area of operation.  There are certain risks that all of us live with including investors.

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