A pending law in California that would require companies to make climate-related disclosures could affect how federal regulators consider the costs of their own forthcoming climate regulations, Wall Street’s top regulator told lawmakers on Wednesday.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler’s testimony during a house oversight hearing highlighted the potential for the California law to support the agency’s efforts to regulate corporate climate disclosures, which face stiff opposition from industrial lobbies.
“If it were signed into law, as I understand it, that would require companies a certain size to report their climate risk,” Gensler said in testimony before the House of Representatives.
“That may change the baseline. If those companies were reporting to California, then it would be in essence less costly because they’d already be producing that information.”
Source: SEC chief says new California law could ‘change baseline’ for coming SEC climate rule | Reuters
