Review of Comments on SEC Climate Rulemaking

In June, the comment period closed on the SEC’s proposed rulemaking on “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Financial Disclosures” (the Proposal). The SEC received more than 5,000 comments on the Proposal. The Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative has conducted a review and analysis of the more than 1,000 comments made by trade associations, politicians, NGO and third sector entities, companies, investors and academics, as well as lawyers, professional organisations, regulators and standards bodies (these latter four groups are categorised as Other in the chart below as the absolute numbers are relatively small). Form letter comments and comments made by individuals were excluded from the review on the basis that the review focused on certain arguments which were not commonly addressed in such comments.

The review classified the major arguments used in each comment, but focused on arguments related to legal authority, Scope 3 emissions disclosures, and materiality and the 1% threshold. The review also categorized every commentator as For, Against, or Neutral with respect to the Proposal in general terms; a commentator who made suggestions in relation to the Proposal may have nevertheless been categorised as generally For the Proposal. This article summarises the key findings of the review at a high level.