| | | | |  | | By Debra Kahn | | | | | | | 
SEC Chair Gary Gensler will have a lot of reading to do. | Andrew Harnik/AP | CONSTANT COMMENT — Today is the deadline for public comments on the SEC's proposal to require public companies to detail their carbon footprints, climate-related risks and what they're doing about them. What are companies, interest groups, banks, politicians and regular people saying about it? A look at the more than 8,000 comments that have been posted so far shows where different types of organizations will likely fall on the rule's most controversial provisions — and the tough questions the SEC faces as it forges the final version, as Avery Ellfeldt reports for POLITICO's E&E News. At a high level, there's a basic dispute over the SEC's authority to require the level of disclosures being sought — or at least whether it's something the agency should be engaged in. Sustainable finance experts, green groups, and some major companies and investors say the proposal is well within the SEC's remit and would provide markets with much-needed information about public companies' exposure to climate-fueled threats. Former SEC general counsel John Coates, now of Harvard University, wrote that because the rule is focused squarely on the issue of disclosure, it falls within the agency's jurisdiction. Business groups and some lawmakers, meanwhile, have argued that the SEC and other financial regulators should stay out of environmental issues altogether and that the rule is unnecessary. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is among them — he noted that the SEC acknowledges many companies already disclose climate-related information and said "one could argue that the proposed rule aims to solve a problem that does not exist." More than 60 percent of House Republicans and more than half of Republican senators agree with him. Opponents also say the proposed rule would be overly burdensome and could run some companies — including fossil fuel producers — out of business. Groups including the American Farm Bureau Federation and the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, argue that the requirement to report emissions from companies' supply chains could result in small, private companies that aren't regulated by the SEC having to cough up emissions data. Others argue that it doesn't go far enough. A coalition of more than 120 environmental justice and mainstream environmental groups, including First Peoples Worldwide, the Action Center on Race and the Economy, Amazon Watch, 350.org and the Ocean Conservancy, sent two letters: The first makes the case for specific disclosure requirements related to Indigenous people, and the second argues community impacts stemming for a corporation's activities should also be made available to investors. Observers say the comments are critical because they offer a snapshot into how opponents might challenge the rule in the courts and what evidence the agency will have to defend itself. Read more from Avery here. And here's a link to view more comments as they roll in today.
| | | | A message from The American Beverage Association: At America's beverage companies, we are committed to reducing our plastic footprint. That's why we're carefully designing our plastic bottles to be 100% recyclable, including the caps. Our goal is for every bottle to become a new one, so they don't end up in our oceans, rivers and landfills. Visit EveryBottleBack.org | | | | | | GFANGZ — A global coalition of financial institutions, companies and government agencies released guidelines on Wednesday for the financial sector to align its work with reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. This is a relatively big deal: Members of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), formed a little over a year ago, collectively have more than $130 trillion in assets under management. Group co-chair Mark Carney said the framework "will promote the responsible and transparent phaseout of stranded assets as part of an orderly transition." Environmental groups are still skeptical. They're pointing out that the guidelines would still allow financing and investment in coal companies, as the Guardian reports. Read the guidelines here.
| | | DEFENDERS ON THE DEFENSIVE — The environmental group Defenders of Wildlife is a terrible place to work, 23 current and former staffers told Robin Bravender of POLITICO's E&E News. Staffers broadly described a workplace where turnover is rampant, questioning leadership isn't tolerated, staff don't feel like they're paid fairly and employees worry they might be fired without notice. Nearly all of them said the organization's management issues are affecting its ability to function. They blamed Defenders CEO Jamie Rappaport Clark for setting the tone and establishing a "culture of fear" within the organization. Upsetting Clark over even minor issues, they said , can result in getting fired. It's an open secret: The group has an overall rating of 1.5 out of 5 on Glassdoor, and Clark has a 6 percent approval rating. The group's union counts 123 people who have quit or been fired since 2019, including 30 people this year alone. Read more from Robin here.
| | | | DON'T MISS THE 2022 GREAT LAKES ECONOMIC FORUM: POLITICO is excited to be the exclusive media partner again at the Council of the Great Lakes Region's bi-national Great Lakes Economic Forum with co-hosts Gov. JB Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot. This premier, intimate networking event, taking place June 26-28 in Chicago, brings together international, national and regional leaders from business, government, academia and the nonprofit sector each year. "Powering Forward" is this year's theme, setting the stage to connect key decision-makers with thought leaders and agents of change to identify and advance solutions that will strengthen the region's competitiveness and sustainability in today's competitive climate of trade, innovation, investment, labor mobility and environmental performance. Register today. | | | | | | 
Free transit or better transit? | Lisa Poole/AP Photo | GET ON BOARD — State and local politicians are seizing on free transit as a way to ease residents' financial burdens and reduce emissions. But transit advocates say improving service would do more to boost ridership, cut car traffic and assist low-income riders than eliminating fares, report POLITICO's Lisa Kashinsky and Tanya Snyder. A pilot project to make one Boston bus line free found that only 5 percent of survey respondents said they would have taken a car if not for the free bus trip, undermining the claim that free transit is a climate initiative or a cure for urban congestion. And riders — including those with low incomes — consistently say that what really matters to them is whether the bus comes frequently enough to be useful. "Low-income riders are just as time-sensitive, if not more time-sensitive, than middle-income and upper-income riders," said Zabe Bent, director of design at the National Association of City Transportation Officials. "And a lot of that is because they're one missed bus away from losing their jobs or getting a reprimand on their job, or late fees or childcare penalties." Read more from Lisa and Tanya.
| | | Happy Friday — TGIF, and a happy Juneteeth in advance. Team Sustainability is editor Greg Mott, deputy editor Debra Kahn, and reporters Lorraine Woellert and Jordan Wolman . Reach us at gmott@politico.com, dkahn@politico.com, lwoellert@politico.com and jwolman@politico.com. Want more? You can have it. Sign up for the Long Game. Four days a week and still free. That's sustainability!
| | | | A message from The American Beverage Association:   | | | | | | — FEMA's flood aid disproportionately benefiting wealthy and white communities could violate civil rights law, Thomas Frank reports in a follow-up to his blockbuster investigation. — The world squandered the opportunity to spend pandemic recovery funds on green investments, Christiana Figueres tells David Wallace-Wells in the NYT. — The California Supreme Court ruled that Amazon customers can sue over lack of disclosure of hazardous substances. The LA Times has more.
| | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | | | | Events are listed in Eastern Time. June 20 — The Nuclear Energy Institute holds its Nuclear Energy Assembly. 8:30 a.m. June 20 — The Edison Electric Institute hosts its annual thought leadership forum. 9 a.m. June 21 — The Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Program holds a virtual discussion on "Seabed Mining, International Law, and the United States." 2 p.m. June 22 — The American Clean Power Association holds an energy storage policy forum. 8:30 a.m. June 22 — The Center for Strategic and International Studies holds a virtual discussion on "Rebuilding Energy Security: The Role of U.S. Oil and Gas." 8:30 a.m. June 22 — The Bipartisan Policy Center holds a discussion on direct air capture technologies. 3 p.m. June 23 — The Atlantic Council's Global Energy Center holds a virtual discussion on "advanced technology to accelerate zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicle deployment." 10 a.m. June 23 — The New York Times holds a virtual discussion on "Closing the Gap on Climate Inequity." 1:30 p.m. June 24 — The Environmental and Energy Study Institute holds a virtual discussion on "Living with Climate Change: Extreme Heat: Policies to Anticipate Threats and Build Preparedness." Noon.
| | | | A message from The American Beverage Association: America's leading beverage companies - The Coca-Cola Company, Keurig Dr Pepper and PepsiCo - are committed to reducing our industry's plastic footprint through our Every Bottle Back initiative.
Learn how our bottles are made to be remade:
Made to be remade: We're carefully designing our plastic bottles from PET, which is the most valuable and recyclable plastic available.
Community recycling: We're investing in communities across the country to improve recycling infrastructure, so even more of our bottles can be collected and remade into new bottles.
Not all plastic is the same: Our bottles are sorted and separated from other plastics, so they can be cleaned and ground into pellets to make new bottles.
Closed loop: We use the recycled plastic to make new bottles, reducing the amount of new plastic we use and preventing our bottles from ending up in the environment.
Learn more about our efforts at EveryBottleBack.org | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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