The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) has criticised the stance of trade association the Business Roundtable (BRT) on the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Climate Disclosure Rule. A letter from the ICCR said a recent amicus brief from the BRT makes arguments which contradict the positions of member companies that are active leaders in addressing climate change, with some having issued statements supporting the rule. The ICCR said the brief was “deeply concerning” to its members, which include institutional investors in BRT companies. The letter also questioned the BRT’s governance process around the submission of the brief, including whether there a board vote to authorise it and, if so, whether broader BRT membership was canvassed for input ahead of the vote. “In our experience, there is a corporate appetite for standardisation in disclosure and reporting regimes that will level the playing field and take the guesswork out of the process. That is what the SEC’s Rule is meant to do,” said Josh Zinner, CEO at ICCR. “It is hard to reconcile our experience with the strident opposition of business trade associations like the BRT and the US Chamber of Commerce who seem to be speaking only for a subset of its members seeking to thwart progress towards the clean energy transition we all know is inevitable.”
The Business Roundtable filed an Amicus Brief in opposition to the #SEC's Climate Disclosure Rule despite support for the Rule voiced by multiple companies represented on its board. Investors want to understand why. Read our letter: https://t.co/ZMMlzlLZik
— ICCR (@ICCRonline) August 22, 2024
