SEC Chairman Jay Clayton participated in a webinar on June 23 that discussed ESG disclosure and investing. The conversation was mostly centered around ESG disclosure and Clayton’s continued push to not view E, S and G as a single metric. Throughout the conversation, Chairman Clayton noted that combining E, S and G factors into a single metric would be difficult because of how different each metric is and how challenging it would be to compare them to one another. For example, he noted that while there were not a lot of E disclosure metrics and that those metrics were “very fluid and forward looking,” there are many more defined S and G metrics. Instead he advocated for a principles based approach that is dependent on “good faith estimates” and thoughtful analysis even at the risk of varying disclosures across companies, “As an investor, you look at the assumptions that people make going into their financial statements, whether it’s in the financial sector or others. So, you don’t get away from those types of issues just by setting a metric.” When asked to compare the disclosure requirements between the US and the EU, Chairman Clayton noted that he gave his “absolute endorsement to this approach” of placing the burden on private companies for disclosure and have the necessary enforcement actions in place if the disclosure is inaccurate. Chairman Clayton also added that this approach would have no impact on the relationship between the SEC and IOSCO. Chairman Clayton concluded the webinar by taking questions from the audience.

Click here to watch the Webinar.