Does Climate Change Affect Your Business? SEC Issues Interpretive Guidance On Disclosure For Public Companies

On February 2, 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued an interpretive release related to climate change disclosure for publicly traded companies.  The SEC approved the issuance of this guidance on January 27, 2010, as discussed in our February 1, 2010 Update (http://tinyurl.com/yfzah5n).  The interpretive release is effective when published in the Federal Register.  This Update summarizes the key issues in the interpretive release and offers practical advice.

SEC Applies Existing Disclosure Requirements To Climate Change Matters

The SEC's interpretive release provides guidance to companies on how they should evaluate their existing disclosure requirements as they apply to climate change matters.  It does not implement any new requirements.  Instead, the release focuses on disclosure obligations arising from changing regulatory, legislative and other business developments related to climate change, as well as physical changes such as weather