POLITICO
Big Business squirms as Biden tightens climate regulations
Corporate America has made bold pledges to fight climate change, but it s resisting government efforts to hold it to them.
At the heart of the clash over climate change policy is a broader argument about how much control the government should have over business. | Branden Camp/AP Photo
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Corporate America is entering the Biden era with bold public pledges to fight climate change. But as Democrats seek to hold businesses to those promises, they re facing a big battle.
Democrats are vowing to go through the Securities and Exchange Commission to impose sweeping financial disclosure rules on climate risk that would force thousands of businesses including banks, manufacturers and energy producers to divulge information to investors. Lenders are set to get even more scrutiny from their own regulators like the Federal Reserve, including potential stress tests to measure their resiliency to rising sea levels
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Yesterday, we wrote about the potential impact of the nomination of so-called “Money Cop” Gary Gensler to chair the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Well, now it appears that Gensler will have a new sheriff on staff to help prioritize Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues across the agency. On Monday, Acting SEC Chair Allison Herren Lee herself a proponent of “uniform, consistent, and reliable” ESG disclosure announced that Satyam Khanna will serve as the SEC’s Senior Policy Advisor for Climate and ESG. Currently housed in Lee’s office, Khanna will advise the SEC on ESG issues and “advance related new initiatives across its offices and divisions.”
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Alt-credit and mobile-money apps give African fintechs a closeup view of climate risks – and opportunities. Financial technology firms have leveraged billions of data points across mobile phones and social media to transform loan underwriting for the emerging consumer class. In turn, data from those users is providing fintech service providers real-time insight into something else: the accelerating climate impacts on farmers and rural communities and the urban poor. In Africa, demand for climate data is growing across supply chains to underwrite micro-insurance for farmers and logistics operators, hedge supply-chain risk, and also create a variety of derivatives and other sophisticated products. “Fintech can supercharge the reach and affordability of solutions that have the potential to reduce the exposure of climate vulnerable populations and help them with preparedness,” says
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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) tapped Satyam Khanna, a former member of the SEC s Investor Advisory Committee, to serve in a newly created role as senior policy advisor for climate and ESG in the office of Acting Chair Allison Herren Lee.
Khanna will advise the agency on environmental, social and governance matters and advance related new initiatives across its offices and divisions, the SEC said in a Feb. 1 press release. Having a dedicated advisor on these issues will allow us to look broadly at how they intersect with our regulatory framework across our offices and divisions, Lee said in a statement. Satyam s experience, insight, and resourcefulness will help ensure our efforts in this space are thoughtful and effective.
Dive Brief:
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) tapped Satyam Khanna, a former member of the SEC s Investor Advisory Committee, to serve in a newly created role as senior policy advisor for climate and ESG in the office of Acting Chair Allison Herren Lee.
Khanna will advise the agency on environmental, social and governance matters and advance related new initiatives across its offices and divisions, the SEC said in a Feb. 1 press release. Having a dedicated advisor on these issues will allow us to look broadly at how they intersect with our regulatory framework across our offices and divisions, Lee said in a statement. Satyam s experience, insight, and resourcefulness will help ensure our efforts in this space are thoughtful and effective.