#43 Tracey Rembert & Alex Wright-Gladstein - New U.S. SEC Climate Disclosure Rules Explained

Listen to Tracey Rembert, Associate Director, Climate Change and Environmental Justice at ICCR, and Alexandra Wright-Gladstein, founder and CEO of the climate-friendly investment fund Sphere.

In this Frankly Speaking episode, we explore the new climate disclosure rules just agreed by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States and asks what are the implications both in the US and worldwide.

To answer those questions, Richard Howitt welcomes Tracey Rembert, Associate Director, Climate Change and Environmental Justice at the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), and Alexandra Wright-Gladstein, founder and CEO of the climate-friendly investment fund Sphere.

In this episode, you’ll hear more about:

If the SEC’s rules are a major advance in business sustainability or too big compromise
What are the positives of the new rules and potential challenges ahead
Whether companies are going to get on and start preparing to do this now?
If the ESG backlash is going to carry on unabated or does this decision change it in some way
Their advice to investors and companies to start preparing for these new rules

“There was a part of me when I saw this outcome that did celebrate, because it is the first time that our major financial regulatory system in the United States is acknowledging that climate risk is financial risk. And just that acknowledgment is huge. I think the SEC did a good job on the first in helping investors protect themselves from climate related risks. Uh, now we need to do better on the second, which is helping investors understand how to invest for a climate safe world.“

Alex Wright-Gladstein in Frankly Speaking