For far too long, the Securities and Exchange Commission—the nation’s top Wall Street watchdog—has responded only tepidly to the global climate crisis. This week, that finally changed. On Monday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted three-to-one to issue draft rules that will require publicly traded corporations to be more transparent with investors about their greenhouse gas emissions and how climate change may pose a risk to their businesses. While the proposed new climate disclosure rule is no panacea, it does represent an important step forward in terms of using market mechanisms to spur progress on climate action.
