Jun. 16, 2022
June 16, 2022 Hello. My name is Carly Thibodeau and Im writing as the Associate Director of Sustainability at Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts. Im writing today to express my strong support for the Securities and Exchange Commissions (SEC) proposed rule to require publicly-traded companies to disclose climate-related financial risk information (S7-10-22). Climate change is impacting every region of the world, and its effects - including extreme weather and related climate-fueled disasters - are accelerating. The COVID-19 pandemic has displayed some of these effects to an extent that is more visible and clear than ever before. The financial risks posed by climate change are real, and well documented. Investors and consumers deserve to have all the information they need to make informed decisions in the face of climate impacts. The economic impact of climate change is also clear. Last year in the U.S. alone, climate change-fueled extreme weather events caused more than $145 billion worth of damage. Over the next decade, climate disasters are predicted to increase both in number and severity although felt in different ways in different parts of the country. The North East will face more frequent and intense storm events, leading to flooding other parts of the country will experience increasingly severe drought conditions, threatening agriculture and wildfire severity. These events affect numerous corporate assets and operations, from putting pressure on essential supply chains to causing physical damage. Investors need to be aware of how companies are impacted by the financial risks of climate change when making decisions about their portfolios. This rule will provide investors with information about companies climate-related financial risks in a reliable, consistent, and comparable manner so they can make informed investment decisions. The rule will also put the U.S. on closer footing with other countries that are already requiring these types of climate-related disclosures from companies- a realm the US has fallen behind in. We need accessible, clear information about climate-related investment risks. Thank you for proposing this rule, and I urge the SEC to bring it to fruition as quickly as possible.