On May 21, in an open virtual meeting the SEC's 23-member Investor Advisory Committee debated and endorsed the Investor as Owner Subcommittee's long-awaited recommendations that the Commission begin in earnest an effort to update the reporting requirements of Issuers to include material, decision-useful, environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.  That same day, BlackRock shareholders debated in a virtual annual meeting whether the world's largest asset manager is living up to CEO Larry Fink's much ballyhooed commitment to sustainability as BlackRock's new standard of investing and investment stewardship (as previously detailed in this blogpost).  While the path forward on possible new principles-based SEC disclosure rules around ESG factors may be long and uncertain, the Subcommittee's recommendations offer useful considerations for companies in preparing currently required SEC filings and voluntary sustainability reports.spanid表示'More-7237'/span/p>

关键点建议包括:

Investos视ESG信息为素材,但无法获得一致性信息后回想投资咨询委在2016年、2018年和2019年前三次会议上处理ESG披露专题时,小组委员会注意到,“我们一贯.听到投资者考虑某些ESG信息材料用于投资和投票决策,而不论其投资任务是否包含“ESG专用策略”和“信息对投资人有重要意义,而不论发行者的商业线路、模型或地理特征如何,对每位发行者都不同”。Yet, despite a plethora of data, there is a lack of material, comparable, consistent information available upon which to base some of these decisions."
• The unregulated market of third party ESG data providers is burdensome, confusing and does not satisfy investor or issuer needs. The Subcommittee added, "[b]ecause of the patchwork approach to disclosure outside of the US and the lack of clear disclosure obligations in the US, third party ESG data providers, many of whom provide a scoring or ratings system, have sprung up to fill the void between what companies disclose publicly and the information investors seek to make investment and voting decisions.过多ESG数据提供方,所有提供方都具有不同的标准,这给美国发行者带来了沉重负担数据提供方使用不同信息来源进行分析并制作工作产品公司无穷无尽地请求多数据提供方提供ESG信息,使重负复加到有时几何比例公司忽略这些报告、不完全填全或无法回答特定查询并回答'是或否'风险评分低或发布低ESG评分或评分低这可能直接影响到他们的股价和获取资本的能力,而投资管理者评价时有或无ESG相关投资任务发布者没有分配足够时间或资源向多数据提供者提供这些广度报告请求而置之不理。”
Isssers处理ESG披露 方法大相径庭小组委员会还观察道,“ISUERs自身采取各种方法提供ESG相关信息发布长单报表或SEC'34法归档一些人根据第三方标准提供信息,如GRI、可持续性会计准则委员会、气候相关金融披露工作队等其他人不直接报告,而是响应ESG数据提供者请求第三方调查,后者向投资者提供ESG信息或评分系统某些发行者综合使用所有这些方法和其他方法关键点是,尽管信息大相径庭,市场中缺少一致、可比的物质信息,每个人都受挫 — — 发行者、投资者和监管者。” SEC知道问题和谨慎行动的必要性sEC主席Jay Clayton和SEC金融司司长William Hinman关于ESG披露专题的启发声明清楚地表明,他们理解ESG因素在投资决策中的出现、ESG数据提供方在这个生态系统中的存在以及许多Serenters对ESG披露采取规范统一方法的呼吁.Clayton主席去年11月向本委员会发言时表示:我向你们中许多人提到,我对几乎所有披露规范问题都感兴趣的要点包括:(1)公司使用哪些数据作决策和(2)投资人使用哪些数据作投资决策.我还承认,即使是这两个问题都可能导致复杂解答,包括:(1)非同一行业所有公司决策使用相同或可比数据;(2)投资者分析也大相径庭.Hinman主管确认投资者对可持续性或ESG披露的兴趣以及这些广义术语覆盖的广度问题特别是,他表示, “ 这些问题的广度说明灵活披露机制的重要性, 以逐公司获取可决策用的材料信息 。 ” 由SEC建立综合ESG披露报告要求将产生多重效益The Subcommittee then offered five reasons for the recommendation that the Commission take timely action to address investor needs for relevant, material, decision-useful ESG disclosure:

1. 1. Investors require reliable, material ESG information upon which to base investment and voting decisions.
   2. Issuers should directly provide material information to the market relating to ESG issues used by investors to make investment and voting decisions.
   3. Requiring material ESG disclosure will level the playing field between Issuers.
   4. ESG disclosure requirements will ensure the flow of capital to the us markets and to US Issuers of all sizes.
   5. The US should take the lead on disclosure of material ESG disclosure

The subcommittee concluded by noting,

"[w]e recognize that any new reporting regime is difficult and comes with related litigation risk.构思良好、基于原则的报告机制使每个发行者,不论行业或商务线,都能够说明与材料ESG因素相关的风险、策略和机会,这与当前披露商业风险、策略和机会无异。ESG事务是每个发行者事务的一部分,每个发行者独有。此类披露需要前瞻分析,如果有材料,我们注意到材料前向披露已经嵌入SEC的披露机制中,例如MD&A讨论、并发事务披露预测协同效应和模拟财务报表中。