An SEC push for environmental, social, and governance disclosure would cater to Wall Street instead of Main Street.
Politicians, policy experts, and academics have long debated the merits of socially motivated investing and corporate management. In recent months, these debates have intensified as leading institutional investors have joined environmental and social activists to urge the Securities and Exchange Commission to require public companies to disclose additional “Environmental, Social, and Governance” (ESG) factors. There are signs that the SEC will soon heed these calls and impose new ESG disclosure requirements. The most obvious candidate in the near term is disclosure on the potential effects on firm finances of climate change and governmental efforts to mitigate it.