ANALYSIS: Corp Fin Director Expects Quick Action on ESG Rules

SEC action on environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosures is “overdue,” according to John Coates, acting director of the agency’s Division of Corporation Finance and professor of law at Harvard University. Coates, speaking at a recent webinar co-sponsored by NYU’s Vincent C. Ross Institute of Accounting Research and the Institute for Corporate Governance & Finance, told attendees that market participants should expect the agency to move quickly on ESG-related rulemaking. Former commissioner and current NYU law professor Robert Jackson led the discussion.

Coates laid out an aggressive short-term ESG agenda for the division. He expects the staff to ...