Back in April, the Securities and Exchange Commission sought public comments on modernizing certain business and financial disclosure requirements in Regulation S-K.  In their Concept Release, the SEC noted that some investors and interest groups have “expressed a desire for greater disclosure of a variety of public policy and sustainability matters, stating that these matters are of increasing significance to voting and investment decisions.”

48936020 - man pointing at the brown picture of oil industry components and green eco energy arranged in circle, earth in the centre, concept of environmentIn response to the SEC’s request for comment, numerous environmental groups pressed the SEC to require disclosure of environmental, social, and governance risks in companies’ public filings.  According to Law360’s Juan Carlos Rodriguez, last week the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and several other groups urged the SEC to create uniform environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) disclosure requirements for companies, which would enable investors to identify companies that reflect their values.

However, as Rodriguez noted in his article, there were others who cautioned the SEC against going too far with ESG disclosures.  For example, the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers advised the SEC that “Such supplemental discussion beyond the bounds of mandated disclosure enriches the public discussion of ESG issues, but may not be material and should not be conflated with disclosures made pursuant to Regulation S-K according to the longstanding principles of financial relevance and materiality upon which the securities markets rely.”

The takeaway here is that the SEC will likely begin to require ESG disclosures from companies in their public filings.  Rodriguez explained that the SEC’s investor advisory committee has noticed a “significant and growing” number of investors who rely on sustainability and other public policy disclosures to better understand a company’s long-term risk profile.  Thus, while it is unclear what those ESG disclosure requirements will be, it is likely that some additional regulations and disclosures will be forthcoming, so plan accordingly.

To read more, please visit: http://www.law360.com/environmental/articles/820522