For Immediate Release: June 27, 2019

ICAR urges securities regulator to develop comprehensive environmental, social, and governance disclosure requirements

Today, ICAR called on the SEC to require companies to disclose environmental, social, and governance information critical for investors to assess and mitigate risks. By mandating these disclosures, the SEC will help investors, fulfill its duty to regulate in the public interest, and bring the US in line with requirements already being implemented in other major markets.

“The US is behind the times when it comes to environmental, social, and governance disclosures,” said Alison Friedman, Executive Director of the International Corporate Accountability Roundtable. “The human rights policies, practices, and impacts of filers are material to U.S. investors, and to the general public. A company found to be abusing human rights in its value chain faces extreme reputational risks that can have a negative impact on its financial performance.”

In its report entitled Knowing and Showing, ICAR argues that information on human rights impacts are materially relevant to corporate securities reporting and encourages the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to guide businesses in reporting material human rights information in their periodic and proxy disclosure reports.

ICAR’s comment comes in support of a petition sent to the SEC in October 2018, calling for a rulemaking on ESG disclosures, and signed by investors and associated organizations representing more than $5 trillion in assets under management.