The SEC Is Heading Toward a Climate Train Wreck
By failing to collaborate with the EPA on corporate emissions disclosures, the regulatory agency risks adopting rules that are a bridge to nowhere.
There is a “whole of government” solution.
Photographer: Dana Rhys/Bloomberg
The good news is that after months of internal debate, the Securities and Exchange Commission has finally proposed rules mandating that publicly traded corporations address climate change.
The proposals are expansive. They require companies to make dozens of complicated subjective and objective determinations. They're about as controversial as can be, and have already provoked heated arguments about the SEC’s role in setting climate policy. But it’s unlikely the agency's final rules will be so aggressive. Seasoned hands understand that these are negotiating positions that will evolve through the comment process. A detailed, informed and important debate can now begin.