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Tomorrow at 10:00 am, the Senate Banking Committee will meet to conduct a hearing on the
nominations of Gary Gensler to be chairman of the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) and Rohit Chopra to be director of the
Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB). Both are strong
advocates of the Biden administration s policy agenda and have
longstanding relationships with progressive Democrats. The hearing
is certain to underscore the political and philosophical divide
between Democrats and Republicans, for example, over what role
social issues and policies should have in SEC and CFPB
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Tomorrow, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will lead a meeting of the Financial Stability
Oversight Council (FSOC). The preliminary agenda for the open
session includes climate change and its potential impacts on
financial stability.
Appearing before Congress last week, Secretary Yellen stressed
the importance of FSOC and its unique role in coordinating
responses to issues like climate change. She specifically noted
that climate change is a top priority of the Biden
[a]dministration and FSOC can play a role in arranging
discussions among financial regulators all of whom have
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During his Senate confirmation hearing for chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler said he would adhere to the U.S. Supreme Court’s view of materiality: Information is material (and should therefore be disclosed) if there is a substantial likelihood that a reasonable investor would consider the information important in making an investment or voting decision. He then noted that many shareholders are calling for disclosures on climate risk, human capital and political spending, suggesting that they may be material.
Since the start of the Biden administration, then-Acting Chair Allison Herren Lee and the SEC staff have clearly focused on environmental, social and governance (ESG) in all facets of the SEC’s operations. Highlights include:
At the May 1, 2021 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, a shareholder proposal for climate reporting by the parent company received more than one-third of the vote. This is a strong signal that sophisticated institutional investors are tired of Mr. Buffett s and Mr. Munger s stonewalling on climate.