An article by Professor Virginia HARPER HO titled “Climate Disclosure Line-Drawing & Securities Regulation” was featured on the Duke Financial Economics Center’s FinReg Blog. The featured brief topic is “Climate Disclosure Line-Drawing – and Why to Take Both Sides in the ESG Debate Seriously”. The link to the featured brief can be found at: https://sites.duke.edu/thefinregblog/2023/04/20/climate-disclosure-line-drawing-and-why-to-take-both-sides-in-the-esg-debate-seriously/

The article clarifies the line-drawing choices behind mandatory climate risk disclosure, explains the established frameworks for corporate climate reporting that regulators internationally are building upon, and identifies how both have informed the SEC’s proposed climate disclosure rules. This Article contributes to the debates over ESG disclosure mandates by exploring the boundaries and intersections of climate risk and broader ESG concepts and by considering the potential liability implications of mandatory climate risk disclosure. It concludes by explaining the impact and limits of the SEC’s line-drawing choices and outlining steps that could be taken to better achieve the goals of the proposed reforms and perhaps to move beyond them. Full article available on https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4339497.

The FinReg Blog is sponsored by the Duke Financial Economics Center, a forum for financial policy, regulatory scholars and finance practitioners to express their views on all things finance and regulation.

This article has also been featured on the Oxford Business Law Blog and the Columbia Law School’s Blue Sky Blog.  

Featured brief on Oxford Business Law Blog can be found at: https://blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/blog-post/2023/04/secs-climate-disclosure-line-drawing-and-its-limits 

Featured brief on the CLS Blue Sky Blog can be found at: https://clsbluesky.law.columbia.edu/2023/03/27/climate-disclosure-line-drawing-and-securities-regulation/