While the SEC’s climate rule could be axed, many companies will still need to build out their ESG disclosures
Rather than weeks or months of damaging uncertainty, the US presidential election delivered a surprisingly swift and clear verdict this week, with Donald Trump quickly projected as having an unassailable lead over Kamala Harris.
That means commentary can now turn to what a Trump second term will look like. For the IR profession, major changes are afoot given that the Republican candidate pledged in July to fire SEC chair Gary Gensler on his first day in office.
In the comments, Trump was critical of the current SEC leadership’s tough approach to cryptocurrency. Under his watch, the US will become the ‘crypto capital of the planet and the Bitcoin superpower of the world,’ he stated.
Last month, IR Magazine reported on what impacts readers could expect from different election outcomes. ‘For a start, you’d get a new head of the SEC and the Federal Trade Comission [with a Trump win],’ commented Ben Maiden, editor-at-large at IR Magazine sister publication Governance Intelligence.
‘Dan Gallagher has been reported as the potential new head of the SEC if Trump wins. He was a commissioner there before and his bio on the SEC website says, He addressed the creeping federalization of corporate governance matters as well as the concerted efforts of special interest groups to manipulate the SEC’s disclosure regime to advance their political agendas. That gives you an idea of where he would be coming from,’ added Maiden.
The much delayed and troubled SEC climate disclosure rules are almost certainly now destined for the dustbin, noted Maiden. It may also become harder for shareholder resolutions to get on proxy statements, he explained.
All of this offered plenty of food for thought at IR Magazine’s Corporate Reporting Forum, which took place on Wednesday in New York, beginning just hours after media outlets started projecting a Trump victory.
During one panel, an audience member asked what the election result will mean for corporate reporting. The gist of the response was that, while there may be an impact on the SEC’s work, Europe’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) isn’t going anywhere.
The CRSD, which mandates sustainability reporting across a range of areas, including carbon emissions, will apply to around 50,000 companies based outside of the European Union, with many of those located in the US.
So, while the rhetoric around ESG could harden further, many US companies will still need to build out their environmental disclosures – and face the investor scrutiny that comes with that.
How are you expecting Trump’s victory to impact your IR program? Get in touch and let us know at [email protected] or on LinkedIn.
