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SEC Releases Proposed Climate Risk Disclosure Rule

Lisa Woll, CEO of US SIF, released a statement on climate risk disclosure.

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 21, 2022 – US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, the leading association for the sustainable investment industry, today released a statement from Lisa Woll, CEO, in response to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed rule on climate risk disclosure:

“Today's vote to propose consistent, comparable and reliable information on climate-related risks is a critical step forward in providing the needed data to make investment decisions. This rule will create a framework to structure climate-related information already reported by most large companies.

“The proposal includes important elements of disclosure including climate-risk strategy, management and governance, the impacts of climate-related events on financial statements, and metrics for company-set climate-related targets or goals, assurance standards. It covers scopes 1 and 2, and, for all but the smallest companies, scope 3 as well.

“US SIF first asked the SEC to establish a comprehensive ESG disclosure framework in 2009. Climate change data is a cornerstone of ESG disclosure. The US SIF Foundation's 2020 Report on US Sustainable and Impact Investing Trends identified climate change as the most important specific ESG issue considered by money managers, comprising $4.2 trillion in assets. In the 2022 proxy season, 21% of the environmental and social shareholder proposals filed address climate change, according to Proxy Preview.

We thank the SEC Commissioners and staff for their work on this and look forward to reviewing the proposal with our members and responding to the SEC's request for comment.”

About US SIF and the US SIF Foundation

US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment is the leading voice advancing sustainable investing across all asset classes. Its mission is to rapidly shift investment practices toward sustainability, focusing on long-term investment and the generation of positive social and environmental impacts. US SIF members include investment management and advisory firms, mutual fund companies, asset owners, research firms, financial planners and advisors, community investing organizations and nonprofit associations.

US SIF is supported in its work by the US SIF Foundation, a 501(C)(3) organization that undertakes educational and research activities to advance the mission of US SIF, including offering trainings for advisors and other financial professionals on the Fundamentals of Sustainable and Impact Investment. The US SIF national conference, FORUM 2022, will be held at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya in NM from June 6-8.  

Learn more at ussif.org. 

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