Retailers Appreciate SEC Climate Rule Omits Scope3 Emissions
Disappointed disclosure rule didn't receive further review
- By [ Kathleen McGuigan , Erin Hiatt ]
- Washington, DC
- 03/05/2024
“RILA and its members support the SEC’s goal of providing investors with accurate and material information. We appreciate that the Commission took some of retailers’ concerns into account in today’s final rule and ultimately focused on requiring reporting of companies’ material climate impact and risks within their control on a more reasonable reporting timeline,” said Kathleen McGuigan, RILA executive vice president and deputy general counsel. “While we are pleased with some of the changes made, other concerns were not attended to and will create complexities for retailers. Given the intense stakeholder interest in this issue, retailers would have preferred the SEC followed our recommendation to repropose the rule incorporating the changes made today, to allow for additional input from impacted entities before finalizing.”
RILA filed comments in 2022 with the SEC expressing significant concerns with the proposed rule. RILA’s comments outlined several recommendations for how the agency could address these concerns while accomplishing the SEC and retail industry’s shared goal of providing material information to investors. The final rule addressed one of the primary concerns by eliminating mandatory disclosures on scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the final rule allows additional flexibility in the timing of the filing and limitations on liability for forward-looking statements. RILA will work with member companies to further evaluate today’s 800-page final rule to determine how it will impact the retail industry.
“Reporting on GHG emissions and climate impacts is a comparatively new field that will necessitate continuous improvement and collaboration,” said Erin Hiatt, RILA vice president, corporate, social responsibility (CSR). “The retail industry’s direct emissions footprint is small; however, we recognize that climate change is a bigger threat than any one individual, company, industry, or government can address on its own. Retailers are dedicated partners in the collective fight to mitigate climate risks and to measure and reduce emissions. The retail industry continues to engage in new and innovative approaches and technologies to tackle these complex issues.”
For more information on the retail industry’s approach to climate issues please visit RILA’s Retail Climate Priorities and Climate Action Blueprint.
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RILA is a trade association of the world’s largest, most innovative, and recognizable retail companies and brands. RILA members include more than two hundred retailers, product manufacturers, and service suppliers, who together employ over 42 million Americans and account for $2.7 trillion in annual sales and hundreds of thousands of stores, manufacturing facilities, and distribution centers domestically and abroad.
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Climate and Sustainability
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Ensuring a Safe, Sustainable Future
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Legal Affairs & Compliance
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Retail Sustainability
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Finance
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Public Policy
