This is the imaginary line in the sand drawn by Joe "King Coal" Manchin last week when he refused to confirm Joe Biden's board nominee Sarah Bloom Raskin to the Federal Board of Governors -- because this is the kind of climate policy she thought was imperative. Looks like we might get it via a different agency.
"My phone lit up with push news alerts on this yesterday, how the Securities and Exchange Commission is proposing rules that will require companies to report on operations and how they affect the climate. Tell us why this is so important," Jonathan Lemire said on MSNBC this morning.
"Same here, Jon. My phone was also lighting up yesterday, around this news. And it is a pretty big deal. We're at a junction when it comes to how corporations will disclose their climate change agenda, and how this influences the way investors think about putting their money in these companies. So yesterday the S.E.C. proposed rules that would require publicly traded companies to report on how their operations affect climate and carbon emissions.
"Now, the rules are expansive. And the S.E.C. chair said that they would not only have to protect investors, but also respond to requests for greater clarity from corporations themselves. The idea is that if climate change is going to have a significant impact on a company's future earnings, then investors should have the clarity and the information as early as possible, before making their investment. But it is controversial, with critics suggesting that the package from the S.E.C. may in fact be a way to jumpstart the Biden administration's environmental agenda. And they would argue that this kind of policy setting should come from lawmakers, not the S.E.C.
"Now, it enters its 60-day comment period where investors and businesses can comments on it. so it's not necessarily a done deal. But expect to hear a lot more about this in the days ahead."
