Environmental Disclosure: SEC Should Explore Ways to Improve Tracing and Transparency of Information;Report to the Congress

摘要

To help investors make informed decisions, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforces federal securities laws requiring companies to disclose all information that would be considered important or 'material' to a reasonable investor, including information on environmental risks and liabilities, in reports filed with SEC. To monitor companies' disclosures, SEC reviews their filings and issues comment letters requesting revisions or additional information, if needed. This report addresses (1) key stakeholders' views on how well SEC has defined the requirements for environmental disclosure, (2) the extent to which companies are disclosing such information in their SEC filings, (3) the adequacy of SEC's efforts to monitor and enforce compliance with disclosure requirements, and (4) experts' suggestions for increasing and improving environmental disclosure.