Climate-Impact Disclosure Rule Is Ignored; SEC Yawns

Only about 27 percent of public companies are complying with a three-year-old SEC requirement that companies account for projected effects of climate change in their disclosures, according to an article in a Pulitzer Prize winning site devoted to climate change issues. Companies’ number one anticipated cost – regulation – was no surprise, but even energy companies ignored projections like that of the banking giant HSBC, which says they could lose 60 percent of their value if regulations force them to keep product in the ground. Few companies discussed higher insurance costs or the cost of projected direct effects, like rising sea levels. The SEC’s most serious penalty for those that failed to supply any climate-related disclosures was a request for more information.