CEES Report Influences SEC Guidelines

Following the advice of Colorado Law’s Center for Energy and Environmental Security (CEES), the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released a new guideline requiring public companies to disclose climate-related risks to their investors on January 27, 2010.

The advice came from a report, titled “Reclaiming Transparency in a Changing Climate: Trends in Climate Risk Disclosure by the S&P 500 from 1995 to the Present,” which was co-sponsored by CEES, the Environmental Defense Fund, and Ceres.

“The SEC's guidance is an extraordinary breakthrough,” said CEES Senior Research Fellow Kevin Doran, one of the report’s authors. “The guidance recognizes that climate change can present material opportunities and challenges for business, and that companies are obligated to communicate this information to investors.”