On behalf of the 30 undersigned law professors, all of whom teach and write on U.S. securities law and capital markets regulation, we welcome the opportunity to provide our views on the Commission’s recent proposal related to the enhancement and standardization of climate-related disclosures for investors (the “Proposal”). We focus on a single question—whether the Proposal is within the Commission’s rulemaking authority—and we unanimously answer this question in the affirmative. We base this conclusion on the analysis set out below. We do not all agree on the policy issues facing the Commission with respect to the optimal scope of environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure, including climate-related disclosure. But we all share the view that the Commission has ample, longstanding, and clear authority to promulgate disclosure rules in this area.
Source: The SEC’s Authority to Pursue Climate-Related Disclosure