The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced that companies must disclose to investors the physical impact that climate change has on assets and the consequences of regulations curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

The SEC public disclosure guidance on climate-related risks is seen as a major victory by an army of environmental groups and institutional investors that have pressed the issue since 2007.

"This is a big step forward," said Maryland State Treasurer Nancy Kopp, who also chairs the board of trustees for the state's $33 billion pension fund. "As investors, the information being disclosed isn't as useful as it ought to be."

The SEC under President Obama and SEC Chairwoman Mary Schapiro has worked quietly on the climate-risk guidance in recent months. But, issued on the same day as Obama's State of the Union address, it drew fire from Republicans on Capitol Hill and at the commission. Critics used imprisoned fund manager Bernard Madoff, the global financial crisis and the contentious politics of climate science as cudgels against the SEC.

"Having permitted the now-imprisoned Bernard Madoff to bilk as much as $50 billion from trusting investors, it will now turn its investigative eye to global warming instead of investor protection," Reps. Joe Barton (R-Texas) and Greg Walden (R-Ore.) said in a letter sent to Schapiro this week. Barton is the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

 

The complete article is at;

 

http://www.eenews.net/public/climatewire/2010/01/28/3