SEC Commissioner Pierce Questions Use of ESG Metrics in SEC Disclosures

The SEC previously had publicly announced that it is considering the promulgation of new regulations concerning ESG disclosures, and sought public comment on climate change disclosures. 

However, one of the Republican SEC Commissioners has now publicly questioned whether ESG disclosures, including ones focused on climate change, are an appropriate subject matter for the SEC.  Specifically, Commissioner Pierce expressed "worry about the implications [of] a stakeholder-focused disclosure regime" and "the additional of specific ESG metrics," stating that "[s]uch a regime would likely expand the jurisdictional reach of the Commission, impose new costs on public companies, decrease the attractiveness of our capital markets, distort the allocation of capital, and undermine the role of shareholders in corporate governance."  

Although Commissioner Pierce is in the minority during the Biden Administration, her expressed views likely reflect the substantial pushback that the SEC will encounter as it seeks to devise and implement new ESG disclosures, including ones focused on climate change.