Zeus: Climate disclosure's new era

The death of the SEC rule was inevitable, but investors won't be stopped that easily.

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(David Callaway is founder and Editor-in-Chief of Callaway Climate Insights. He is the former president of the World Editors Forum, Editor-in-Chief of USA Today and MarketWatch, and CEO of TheStreet Inc. His climate columns have appeared in USA Today, The Independent, and New Thinking magazine).

SAN FRANCISCO (Callaway Climate Insights) — Of all the ulcer-inducing moves by the new Trump administration to gain power over government, none were as inevitable as the one this week by the Securities and Exchange Commission to withdraw its corporate climate disclosure proposal.

None of the moves will have as little impact, either.

Political putsch tactics and bureaucratic burdens aside, climate risk is growing at an alarming rate around the world and especially on Wall Street. While the SEC plan introduced by former chairman Gary Gensler was certainly flawed, the need for investors to measure the risk to companies of their climate footprints and potential liabilities has never been greater.