New SEC’s First Climate Disclosure Tool Is Blast From the Past

Democrats newly in charge of the Securities and Exchange Commission don’t have to wait for new rules to pressure companies for more disclosures about how climate change impacts them: One tool is there, waiting to be used again after years collecting dust.

Democrat Allison Lee frequently called for more corporate climate-related reporting before she became the SEC’s acting chair last month, echoing similar entreaties from President Joe Biden, and the SEC guidance on climate-change disclosures adopted when Biden was vice president in 2010 carries some weight because commissioners voted to release it.

The 29-page document doesn’t have the force of ...