Wow. The SEC seeks “climate disclosure” input on 15 questions…

On the heels of Corp Fin Director John Coates’ speech last week, Acting SEC Chair Allison Herren Lee delivered this speech today about “meeting investor demand for climate & ESG information at the SEC.” In connection with the speech, the SEC published this statement seeking comment on climate change disclosure.

The statement lists 15 questions upon which the SEC seeks input. Here is my attempt to summarize those 15 questions:

1. How can the SEC best regulate? Where – and how – should disclosures be provided?
2. What climate information can be quantified and measured?
3. What are pros & cons of private ordering?
4. What are pros & cons for industry-specific standards?
5. What are pros & cons of drawing upon existing standards?
6. How should disclosure requirements be modified over time?
7. What existing SEC regs should climate requirements be tucked into (eg. S-K or S-X)?
8. Should companies disclose details about their climate-disclosure processes?
9. What are pros & cons of any disclosure framework being global?
10. How should the disclosure standards be enforced?
11. Should the SEC consider other measures to ensure the reliability of climate disclosures?
12. What are pros & cons of a “comply or explain” framework?
13. Should there be a “Climate Discussion & Analysis”?
14. Should the SEC regulate private company disclosures?
15. Should “climate” be part of a broader ESG disclosure framework?

Chair Lee’s speech has a lot in it. It’s interesting to see that the SEC might reverse course on part of the shareholder proposal amendments that were adopted last year, as well as the discussion on investment adviser disclosures and universal proxies…