The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday voted to give companies more flexibility in disclosing risk factors and legal proceedings in their financial statements. The SEC approved an amendment to Regulation S-K, which serves as the basis of disclosure requirements for U.S. public companies. Regulation S-K hasn’t undergone significant changes in more than 30…
Tag: climate change
CERES Ties Governance to Environment
From Ceres, a new report called Blueprint for Responsible Policy Engagement on Climate Change. The full report is below. An excerpt: Companies that establish robust governance systems to address climate change as a systemic risk and align their direct and indirect lobbying efforts to support science-based climate policies will drive the creation of a regulatory…
MSCI Launches Climate Change Indexes for China Stocks – The New York Times
MSCI published two climate change indexes on Tuesday that allow investors in China stocks to lean toward companies with lower carbon emissions. The move represents MSCI’s efforts to promote environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards in China, where the government seeks a difficult balance between reducing pollution and sustaining growth in a coronavirus-hit economy. The…
How utilities use secret campaigns against climate action
Federal investigators have accused Ohio’s recently deposed House speaker of running a racketeering ring. The question now is whether they will charge the utility that financed it. The case has significant implications for how corporations seek to shape public opinion on climate and energy policy. Electric utilities have joined the rush to employ dark money…
David Sirota on the DOL/EBSA ESG Proposal: A New Trump Rule Could Help Big Oil Crush The Climate Movement
This emblematic two-part story of climate deception starts with a new rule from Donald Trump’s Labor Department. Coming at a moment when fossil fuel companies and their investors are facing huge losses, the Trump rule aims to make it more difficult for pension and 401k administrators to shift workers’ savings out of fossil fuel assets…
Climate risk & board conflicts at Standard Bank – Just Share
n 8 June 2020, 14 climate justice NGOs led by Just Share wrote to asset managers with shares in Standard Bank Group Limited (Standard Bank), calling on them to vote against the election of five climate-conflicted directors at the bank’s AGM on 26 June. Seven of Standard Bank’s 18 board members have close ties to…
BlackRock Shows Resolve and Restraint in Public Climate Test – Bloomberg
In the first major test of BlackRock Inc.’s commitment to use its vast influence and resources to fight climate change, the asset manager showed a capacity both for combativeness and restraint. The $6.5 trillion firm said in a report on Tuesday it identified 244 companies during the 2020 annual proxy season that weren’t doing enough…
Climate Change Is a Business Risk – MarketWatch
A new report from Ceres, a global sustainability nonprofit where I serve on the board, describes the systemic threat that climate change poses to financial markets. The impacts—storms, wildfires, rising sea levels, and more—are multiplying, intensifying, and combining in ways that affect asset valuations, public health, worker productivity, and economic stability. The report provides more…
Singapore to invest US$2 billion in green funds to drive climate action, Business News & Top Stories – The Straits Times
Singapore will invest US$2 billion (S$2.7 billion) in funds that have a strong green focus as part of its ambition to be a leading centre of green finance in Asia and globally. “Finance fuels the economy and business. It determines investment decisions, and it drives action. We must make finance green, to drive climate action –…
A Successful Season for SASB-Based Shareholder Resolutions
Timed to the 2020 Annual General Meeting (AGM) season, shareholder advocacy non-profit As You Sow filed seven shareholder resolutions, on behalf of individual proponents, that specifically requested material disclosure compliant with environmental and social corporate reporting standards published by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). SASB standards are explicitly designed to reflect financially material aspects…
