The SEC announced today the creation of a 22-member Climate and ESG Task Force within the Division of Enforcement. The Task Force - charged with (among other things) developing initiatives to proactively identify ESG-related misconduct and evaluating and pursuing whistleblower tips and complaints on ESG-related issues – will initially focus on identifying material gaps or misstatements in issuers’ climate risk disclosures. The task force will also analyze disclosure and compliance issues associated with investment advisers’ and funds’ ESG strategies. As previously reported, last week, the SEC launched a review of companies’ climate-related disclosure. Climate and ESG risks are also among the 2021 examination priorities announced yesterday by the SEC’s Division of Examinations.
See this statement from SEC Commissioners Peirce and Roisman about these developments and this Pensions & Investments article.