Ceres calls for SEC to get tough on green disclosures

May 21, 2021

Not-for-profit sustainability advocacy organization Ceres is urging companies and investors to get behind its campaign for more disclosure on carbon footprints.

The Boston-based group is calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to establish a strong minimum standard for any climate disclosure rules it issues. Ceres wants such standards to be based on its own �Statement of Essential Principles for SEC Climate Change Disclosure�, to which investors are now being invited to endorse.

�Right now, we have a historic opportunity to shape how US financial markets address the climate crisis now and in the future,� said Steven Rothstein, managing director of Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets.

�If we want the US to achieve 50% cuts in emissions, mandatory climate disclosure is fundamental.�

Ceres statement comes as the SEC is seeking public comments for it to develop corporate climate change disclosure rules.

In a statement in March when the US regulator opened the consultation, Allison Herren Lee, then acting chair of the SEC, said investor demand for disclosures had grown �dramatically�. She asked SEC staff to �evaluate our disclosure rules with an eye toward facilitating the disclosure of consistent, comparable, and reliable information on climate change�, with the aid of external input.

�We know that when it comes to financial risks, what gets measured gets managed,� said Ceres� Rothstein in an email to potential supporters. �Standardised, mandatory disclosure will establish rules of the road, benefiting both companies and investors.

�Companies will be better positioned to protect themselves from future climate risks, and investors will have better information to more accurately analyse their portfolios and make smarter, better investing decisions.�

Ceres said it had successfully petitioned the SEC to issue climate risk disclosure guidance to companies in 2010. It now wants to go �even further� and require all publicly traded companies to better disclose the risks posed to their business models by the climate crisis.

The organisation�s statement is available on its website. The deadline to sign up is 28 May.