The SEC is moving—slowly—toward including environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosures in public company filings. Although the U.S. House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee in July 2019 rejected a bill that would have aligned ESG reporting standards closer to those found in the EU and required climate change risk factor disclosures, ESG is an issue only likely to gain in prominence in the near future.
Companies may have dodged increased ESG disclosure regulation for the moment, but pressure is mounting on companies to provide ESG information. As recently as Oct. 15, credit ratings agency Moody’s warned that asset managers face ...