It’s here. After mounting pressure from investors to standardize ESG reporting, the SEC has finally released the highly anticipated climate-related disclosure ruling. In the SEC’s press release, Chairman Gary Gensler commented, “I am pleased to support today’s proposal because, if adopted, it would provide investors with consistent, comparable, and decision-useful information for making their investment decisions, and it would provide consistent and clear reporting obligations for issuers.” The proposed ruling has been a long time coming. It builds off of guidance issued in 2010 related to cor ..read more

In the first of a few ESG-related rules to come, the SEC has announced new proposed disclosure rules on cybersecurity. The agency previously hinted that it planned to update the current cybersecurity rules in place, but likely accelerated the rulemaking process in light of what an SEC spokesperson called “special relevance” linked to the Ukraine crisis. While these proposed rules will need to go through a public comment period and review, it is expected they will be in place by early summer. As many of us have experienced in recent past, data breaches are on the rise. The Identity Th ..read more

Have you googled your stock recently? Google search results for some stocks will now include a line item for a company’s CDP score alongside traditional financial metrics like market capitalization and price-to-earnings ratio. Though the search results do not specify, the score listed is based on the company’s climate change questionnaire response. CDP also has questionnaires and scores for forests and water security. Let’s look at Comcast as an example. If you google “Comcast Stock”, “CMCSA”, “Comcast Stock Price”, or a similar variation, the below image comes up above all other search result ..read more

With over $4 trillion in assets under management, State Street holds a position in nearly 80% of all U.S.-based companies listed on the NYSE and NASDAQ1. That’s why State Street’s recent voting changes are a big deal for almost all U.S. corporate issuers. While BlackRock may be the first and loudest in vocalizing its expectations related to ESG, State Street tends to swoop in with a plan of action. Earlier this year, State Street’s CEO Cyrus Taraporevala announced State Street’s two priorities for 2022 – “to support the acceleration of the systemic transformations underway in climate change an ..read more

Sign up for The Infinite Minute to receive the top news impacting corporate ESG reporting. Subscribe to the Newsletter ESG Ratings & Reporting The ISSB Announces Proposed Draft of Standards Following the lead of the SEC, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), launched by the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundations (IFRS), released a draft of the consolidated sustainability standards. The goal is to create industry-based, globally consistent standards for environmental disclosure. The proposals build on the TCFD framework and sound eerily similar to th ..read more

Sign up for The Infinite Minute to receive the top news impacting corporate ESG reporting. Subscribe to the Newsletter Regulatory Update The SEC Announces Proposed Climate Ruling The ESG news we have all been waiting for was (finally) announced earlier this week. The SEC released its proposed climate ruling, in a brief 506-page read. In the announcement, SEC Chair Gary Gensler said the regulation is in response to pressures from investors managing over $130 trillion in assets, and therefore, aims to give investors “consistent, comparable, and reliable” information related to climate ..read more

Sign up for The Infinite Minute to receive the top news impacting corporate ESG reporting. Subscribe to the Newsletter Proxy Season Briefing Carbon Neutrality Isn’t Enough: Investors Want Science-Based Targets Concerned about the rise in UPS’ delivered emissions and the company’s lack of transparency around its carbon neutrality goal, Trillium Asset Management, Green Century, and Zevin Asset Management have filed a shareholder proposal encouraging UPS to establish science-based targets. UPS currently has a goal to be carbon neutral by 2050 and includes interim deadlines for achieving ..read more

Sign up for The Infinite Minute to receive the top news impacting corporate ESG reporting. Subscribe to the Newsletter Regulatory News The SEC Will Propose Climate-Related Disclosure Rules on March 21st The Securities and Exchange Commission will release its long-awaited climate-related disclosure rules on March 21, according to a meeting agenda posted by the regulator. Initially, the rules were slotted for release in October 2021, but were pushed back as the SEC debated internally about which scopes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to include. Public companies are currently re ..read more