This blog doesn’t typically write about the goings-on at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, but here’s an exception—especially given that its recommendations encompass the SEC.  In July, the CFTC voted to establish a Climate-Related Market Risk Subcommittee, which was asked to provide a report that would “identify and examine climate change-related financial and market risks.”  The Subcommittee comprised over 30 financial market participants, including members from “financial markets, the banking and insurance sectors, as well as the agricultural and energy markets, data and intelligence service providers, the environmental and sustainability public policy sector, and academic disciplines focused on climate change, adaptation, public policy, and finance.” That Report was released yesterday.  What does it conclude? That “[c]limate change poses a major risk to the stability of the U.S. financial system and to its ability to sustain the American economy,” calling for U.S. financial regulators to “move urgently and decisively to measure, understand, and address these risks.” The Report includes 53 recommendations, such as putting an “economy-wide price on carbon,” developing a strategy for integrating climate risks into the monitoring and oversight functions of financial regulators, allowing 401(k) retirement plans to use ESG factors in making investments (contrary to currently proposed controversial DOL regulations) and developing standardized classification systems for physical and transition risks.  Importantly, the Report also concludes that current disclosure by U.S. companies is inadequate—in no small part because of what might be a cramped interpretation of the concept of “materiality”—and recommends, as discussed further below, that the SEC update its 2010 guidance on climate risk disclosure and impose specific climate-related disclosure requirements on public companies. Will the Report make a difference?

The Report first makes clear that the physical and transition risks of climate change “affect capital markets writ large. The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) finds that industries totaling 93 percent of U.S. market capitalization are materially exposed to climate risk (SASB, 2016). As firms, investors and other capital market actors seek to make informed decisions in the face of these risks, demand is growing among market stakeholders for comprehensive disclosure evaluating climate-related risks and uncertainties.”

Currently, there are a number of disclosure frameworks, such as the SASB (see this PubCo post) and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). (See this PubCo post.) But with the multiplicity of frameworks, investors and other market participants  have recognized the need for alignment and consistency among standard setters and “called for ‘decision useful’ climate risk disclosure.”

Although the number  of disclosing companies has increased and the quality of disclosure has improved, the Report says,

“the information disclosed falls significantly short of what capital market actors need to adequately integrate climate risk into their decision-making…[T]he slow rate of growth in the number of firms and other market participants disclosing under the current disclosure regime, which relies to a large extent on voluntary disclosures by companies and other market participants, is not sufficient to meet investor needs, given the urgency of mitigating and adapting to climate change. The TCFD’s most recent status report included a review of reporting by more than 1,100 companies from 2016 to 2018, and found that, while disclosure rates were increasing, surveyed companies only made, on average, 3.6 of the 11 total TCFD recommended disclosures…. An analysis of Russell 3000 companies found that 30 percent discussed climate change as a risk in their 10-K filings, but only 3 percent of companies discussed climate risks in the MD&A section of those filings….”  

While more large companies are providing some climate-related disclosure, it varies significantly from company to company, “presenting a challenge for investors and others seeking to understand exposure to and management of climate risks.” The lack of completeness and comparability is not only a challenge for investors, according to the Report, it also impedes the ability of companies to benchmark their performance against their peers.

The Report observes that, in addition to the materiality-based disclosure requirements of Reg S-K, in 2010, the SEC issued “guidance to remind companies of their obligations under existing federal securities laws and regulations to consider climate change and its consequences as they prepare disclosure documents.” That guidance, the Report concludes, “has not had a significant impact on actual climate risk disclosures by companies because of its lack of specificity and uneven application.” A 2018 GAO report “found that ‘climate-related disclosures in some companies’ filings use boilerplate language, which is not specific to the company, and information is unquantified,’ thereby limiting the utility of the information to investors.” Despite increasingly sophisticated expectations for disclosure, the SEC has not updated the guidance since 2010.  

Citing academic research in support, the Report concludes that “[t]he quality of climate disclosure in the United States by issuers largely remains inadequate for the needs of investors.” In part, the Report attributes the inadequacy to current interpretations of the concept of “materiality,” which often limits

“required disclosure to short- and medium-term risks, and firms may have assumed that climate risks are relevant only over longer time horizons. However, different firms and industries may have different time horizons over which climate risks are deemed material, taking into account factors like the economic life of assets, the percentage of valuation that can be attributed to future growth, the nature of climate-related risk exposure, and corporate strategy. Physical risk exposure of a company or industry may fall somewhere between near-term acute shocks and long-term chronic stresses. These factors should be evaluated when determining which climate risks—including medium- to long-term transition risks—are material and should be included in SEC filings. Moreover, even in the case of long-term physical and transition risks, investors have asked the SEC to consider the perspective of shareholders investing for the long-term benefit of their beneficiaries.”

Primarily because of the “significant ambiguity about when climate change rises to the threshold of materiality, particularly for medium- and long-term risks,” the existing disclosure regime cannot fill “the reporting gaps.” Large pension funds and asset managers have urged the SEC to consider making clear that “materiality” comprehends long-term value creation and sustainability, the Report maintains.

To achieve comparability in disclosure, the Report advises, companies must have “clear rules about what metrics companies should consider.” The Report suggests that rules for climate risk disclosure proposed or considered by a number of foreign financial regulators “could act as models to be adapted for the U.S. context.” [That should go over big at the SEC. Remnember that Clayton believes the U.S. regulatory regime “stands apart.”]  “Given the inadequacy of the current climate risk disclosures,” the Report advocates, “U.S. regulators should build on their global counterparts’ models and issue rules for climate risk disclosures. They should monitor the rules for effectiveness. Such action by regulators would be directly responsive to market demand for enhanced climate disclosure.”

Recommendations

The Report makes a number of recommendations to improve disclosure, which should be implemented in consultation with various stakeholders. Creating a U.S. climate disclosure regime, the Report advises, including a “mandatory, standardized disclosure framework for material climate risks, including guidance about what should be disclosed that is closely aligned with developing international consensus, would improve the utility and cost-effectiveness of disclosures.”  Because our understanding of climate risk is evolving, so should regulatory approaches evolve and remain open to refinement in line with emerging best practices.

First, when developing rules or guidance, the SEC (and other financial regulators) should consider the following principles for effective climate risk disclosure:

●“Disclosures should represent relevant information.

● Disclosures should be specific and complete.

● Disclosures should be clear, balanced, and understandable.

● Disclosures should be consistent over time.

● Disclosures should be comparable among companies within a sector, industry, or portfolio.

● Disclosures should be reliable, verifiable, and objective.

● Disclosures should be based on current consensus science (and updated as the science evolves) and the best available projections regarding climate change impacts.

● Disclosures should be provided on a timely basis.”

Second, “climate risk disclosure should cover material risks for various time horizons.” The SEC “should clarify the definition of materiality for disclosing medium- and long-term climate risks, including through quantitative and qualitative factors, as appropriate. Financial filings should include disclosure of any material financial risks from climate change in a consistent but non-boilerplate manner, as well as a qualitative description of how firms assess and monitor for potential changes in climate risks that may become material.”

Third, the SEC and other regulators should consider “additional, appropriate avenues” for disclosure of climate risks that are substantive but not quite material over different timeframes outside of SEC filings. Disclosure regarding greenhouse gas reduction targets and strategies that companies devise out to the year 2035 or 2050 “may be appropriate to facilitate robust efforts toward this positive trend.”

Fourth, in light of the substantial costs involved in reporting climate risk information, the SEC should consider whether less burdensome regulation should be applied to smaller companies.

Fifth, the SEC should consider rulemaking where relevant. In addition, the SEC should update its 2010 guidance to achieve greater consistency and ensure its implementation.  The update could provide advice on the following:

Sixth, the SEC and other regulators should “require listed companies to disclose Scope 1 and 2 emissions. As reliable transition risk metrics and consistent methodologies for Scope 3 emissions are developed, financial regulators should require their disclosure, to the extent they are material.”

Seventh, with respect to derivatives, financial regulators “should examine the extent to which climate impacts are addressed in disclosures required of the entities they regulate and consider guidance and rulemaking if disclosure improvements are needed.”

Eighth, accounting standards regulators should, once climate risk disclosure standards are “well advanced,” map the applicability of accounting standards to climate-related disclosure and subsequently issue guidance on disclosure, as appropriate, providing more clarity about how climate risks may be integrated into financial statements.

The Report contends that climate risk disclosure provides a number of benefits to issuers, helping them

“to identify, assess, manage, and adapt to the effects of climate change on operations, supply chains and customer demand; (ii) to relay risk and opportunity information to capital providers, investors, derivatives customers and counterparties, markets, and regulators; and, (iii) to learn from competitors about climate-related strategy and risk management best practices. Peer group disclosures create an information platform where companies can learn from each other and, as a result, increase their organizational and network resilience.” 

Investors will also benefit from “a more refined measure of the long-term cost of capital, as well as risks to firms, margins, cash flow and valuations,” as well as the assurance that climate risks are taken seriously. The absence of disclosure could lead to a reduction in market confidence, adversely affecting the company. Communities will benefit by better understanding “how companies in their localities are preparing for climate risks and opportunities that could impact the local economy, labor force, and tax base.”

In light of the SEC’s long-standing commitment to regulation that is principles-based and not prescriptive, time will tell whether this Report induces the SEC to take any further action. It’s hard to imagine the current SEC mandating, as recommended, that public companies disclose Scope 1 and 2 emissions or even that companies provide disclosure under one or more of the existing frameworks—that ship appears to have sailed with most recent Reg S-K amendments.  More conceivable is that the SEC might update its 2010 guidance, perhaps even expounding further on the timeframe for “materiality” as suggested.  Although fairly recent references to the 2010 guidance may well reflect some level of comfort with its adequacy (see this PubCo post), notably, in a webcast interview in June with non-profit FCLT Global (see this PubCo post), Clayton indicated that, instead of prescriptive requirements, he would view the type of guidance that the Corp Fin staff issued in connection with COVID-19 disclosure as a good model for sustainability disclosure guidance. (See this PubCo post and this PubCo post.)  Whether the SEC issues new guidance on climate remains to be seen.

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