Americans overwhelmingly support mandatory climate disclosure for U.S. companies

Eighty-seven percent of Americans, including 74 percent of Republicans, agree that public companies should disclose their risks from climate change

News provided by

Ceres

Feb 17, 2022, 12:06 ET

BOSTON, Feb. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As the public awaits the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's proposed rule on mandatory climate disclosure for publicly-traded companies, a new poll sponsored by the nonprofits Ceres and Public Citizen, in partnership with JUST Capital and SSRS, found that 87 percent of Americans are in favor of companies reporting their climate-related risks.

Click here to view the full results of the poll.

"The new poll affirms the clear message we have been hearing from investors for decades: we need strong mandatory disclosure rules to measure the climate change risks on a company's balance sheet," said Steven M. Rothstein, Managing Director of the Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets at Ceres. "Having a standardized set of data will provide a powerful tool to help investors assess the impact of climate change when making their investment and voting decisions. The poll shows that the desire for disclosure is at a critical mass, and Ceres was thrilled to partner with Public Citizen, JUST Capital and SRSS in reporting these results."

In short, the poll illustrates:

that there is overwhelmingly agreement that companies have both an impact on—and responsibility to—society and the environment;
there is support for both the standardization of corporate disclosures and for the federal government's role in shaping those standards;
and support for corporate disclosure requirements is strong across various demographics, including political identity and geographic location.

The survey was developed by research provider JUST Capital in consultation with survey and market research provider SSRS, which interviewed a representative sample size of more than 1,100 U.S. adults (age 18 or older) from a diverse and probability-based web panel nationwide. Americans of varying age groups, political affiliations, ethnicities, and geographic locations were polled. Given that this is a probability-based web panel, findings are statistically representative, and therefore, represent the views of the U.S. adult general population.

Ceres is a nonprofit organization working with the most influential capital market leaders to solve the world's greatest sustainability challenges. The Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets, a center within Ceres, aims to transform practices and policies that govern capital markets in order to reduce the worst financial impacts of the climate crisis.

Media Contact: Reginald Zimmerman, [email protected], 617-247-0700 ext. 136

Full press release

SOURCE Ceres