In the US, a coalition of environmental groups has petitioned the Securities and Exchange Commission to require environmental, social, and governance disclosures.

As financial regulatory bodies and companies who list or do business with these exchanges globally, have had pressure gradually built for greater measures of transparency, this latest call was contained in a comment letter responding to a recent SEC Concept Release on Business and Financial Disclosures. The coalition included Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace USA, Rainforest Action Network, The Center for International Environmental Law, Center of Concern, Environmental Investigation Agency, Foundation Earth, and the Sierra Club.

This Concept Release requested comment on ways the SEC should modernise business and financial disclosures in periodic reports, many of which have changed little in 30 years. In the comment letter, the environmental groups make the case that the SEC should create uniform ESG disclosure requirements for companies that would allow investors to easily compare ESG risks between companies to decide where to invest and how to vote.

“Whether it’s extractive industries driving climate change or big agribusiness driving land use change, corporate activities regularly cause serious harm to the environment and to communities’ rights. Both as a matter of ethical principle and as a matter that is material to the financial landscape in which these companies operate, shareholders and the public need to know about the full range of Environmental, Social and Governance risks associated with corporate activities,” said Michelle Chan of Friends of the Earth. “We need the SEC to mandate disclosure of ESG risks and impacts so both shareholders and communities affected by these impacts have the information they need to respond.”

The SEC Concept Release was published on April 13 of this year. The SEC has not indicated when it will issue new regulations to update and modernise existing financial disclosure requirements.

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