Environmental Regulations Gone Wild

On today’s show we are talking about one of the latest proposals to come from the securities and exchange commission. The proposed new rules which are outlined in a 490 page document that was circulating for comment since last year.

Somehow in the middle of the pandemic capturing headlines, this story seemed to fly below the radar.

Under the new rules, registered companies, that is, public companies would be required to make climate risk disclosures as part of the regular reporting to investors.

Let’s be clear. This proposal is one of the worst examples of bureaucratic overreach I’ve seen in a long time.

I’m going to quote directly from the draft rule.

The proposed rules would require information about a registrant’s climate-related risks that are reasonably likely to have a material impact on its business, results of operations, or financial condition. The required information about climate-related risks would also include disclosure of a registrant’s greenhouse gas emissions, which have become a commonly used metric to assess a registrant’s exposure to such risks. In addition, under the proposed rules, certain climate-related financial metrics would be required in a registrant’s audited financial statements.

The SEC in their 490 page document says that companies need to disclose the climate related risks and their greenhouse gas emissions for their own company and their entire supply chain.

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Host: Victor Menasce

email: podcast@victorjm.com