Apr. 16, 2022
Gary Gensler Chairman U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission 100 F Street, NE Washington, DC 20549 Dear Chairman Gensler, We are at an unprecedented time in our own history. As we humans have expanded and built new things on this planet, we almost never pondered or considered the damage we were doing to our planet, and whether or not the damage we were causing is reversible. We seem to be reaching a point that our planet is starting to exhibit serious signs of the illness we have caused over the mere 6 million years that our species has been here on Earth. We must act now, because our chances for a future are diminishing. Corporations are considered citizens of the state here in the U.S., meaning they have rights, pay taxes, etc. However, corporations are much different from people in the fact that they spread across the globe, conduct business in hundreds of countries, and manufacture and transport almost all of the goods that keeps the people on this planet healthy and fed. During their processes, they produce emissions and create waste that is extremely detrimental to the environment. I think that any legislation monitoring these emissions should be passed immediately. Companies need to adapt if we are going to survive, and the only way to accomplish this is by monitoring companies and punishing the ones who fail to comply. Many will complain, and many will be disgruntled, but these are the same people promising shareholders that their company cares about sustainability. They have codes of sustainability ethics, mandates, etc., so I see it as no dispute that they should accept any legislation that the SEC chooses to pass. One thing that I think may be up for debate, however, is the matter of Scope 3 emissions. Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions should certainly be reported by the company, but outsourcing has become a huge part of the modern business world, and it is unfair to ask a company to police other companies that they have paid to do them a service, or carry out business. Emissions should be reported individually, without making large corporations fully responsible for the misconduct of other businesses that they are associated with, horizontally or vertically. A request to report emissions should not be a difficult thing to ask. Many companies conduct their own record keeping and their own sustainability reports already. What’s wrong with reporting them again? If corporations have nothing to hide, these newly proposed rules are no issue to them. Sincerely, Connor Schoenhals