Apr. 19, 2022
I'm glad the SEC is asking for public comments on the proposal to require climate related disclosures from publicly traded companies. I appreciated John Francis' reply of April 4, 2022. I'll quote it below after also suggesting that if the SEC really does move ahead with this kind of regulation, they also need to move forward with tighter disclosure from companies who manufacture goods in China (which, even though they are claiming to not use slave labor or child labor, cannot prove they don't). It seems that if the SEC wants to make a big deal about climate related disclosures for US companies, they should also be putting the same standard out there for ANY company that imports goods from factories made in any other country. (Once again, we hear about the air pollution problem in China.) Good luck with regulating that. Colin Lord John Francis comments are quoted below: Thank you for the opportunity to oppose the proposal of the SEC entering the climate change controversy. The SEC is not the correct government body to mandate non financial, political based rules to private businesses. Anything such as this has dramatic effect on commerce and should be debated openly by an accountable elected officials in the US Senate and US Congress. Any rules/policy would favor large companies who have the scale and resources to add compliance funding. The consensus is far from settled on climate change being caused by or not caused by human actions. The 11.5 year solar cycle and the Atlantic decadal oscillator have dramatic effects on temperature over time. The two warmest periods in recorded history were around 1100BC and 1000AD in the Northern Hemisphere. From 1946 to 1975 temperatures cooled , yet CO2 emissions rose dramatically. Thank you for your consideration and the opportunity for public comment