Georgetown University: Global Warming
Global Warming and the SEC - 12/03/07
The problem of climate change is not going away - but whether the Securities and Exchange Commission will soon provide guidelines on climate change disclosure requirements is a more difficult question to answer.
On November 30, a panel of experts gathered at the Law Center to address that question and others relating to global warming, including the risks (and indeed, opportunities) faced by businesses as they attempt to deal with the issue. The event was sponsored by the Georgetown Environmental Law & Policy Institute and the Georgetown Environmental Law Society; Professor John D. Echeverria moderated the panel.
The discussion focused on the September filing of a petition urging the commission to provide guidance to public companies as they disclose financial risks relating to climate change. The petitioners included Environmental Defense, the New York attorney general's office, various state treasurers, and Ceres, a national network of investors, environmental organizations and public interest groups working with companies and investors to address climate change issues.
"It's basically to send a message and to provide help to the community of registrants who have to file with the SEC about their financial conditions," lead counsel Sean Donahue, a partner at Donahue & Goldberg, said of the coalition's petition. "The disclosures that we see suggest that a lot of companies aren't giving this the attention it deserves."
Roel C. Campos, a partner at Cooley Godward Kronish and a former commissioner at the SEC, praised the petition as a "terrific piece of work." While he did not believe that the matter would be a top priority for the commission - with only a year left in the current presidential administration - he was optimistic about the future."You are building a base for potentially the next commission," he said.
