Ceres Comment Letter Urges SEC to Reject Semiannual Reporting Rule That Would Harm Investors

BOSTON- Ceres today submitted a public comment letter urging the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to withdraw its proposed rule that would allow public companies to provide semiannual instead of quarterly financial reporting. 

“Investors urgently need clear, consistent climate-related financial information. Allowing changes to the reporting frequency from quarterly to semiannually gives investors less information, making it harder to assess financial performance and risks, including climate-related financial impacts of the companies they own,” said Steven Rothstein, Chief Program Officer at Ceres. “Less frequent reporting creates an uneven playing field, where companies and insiders know more than the public investors who own shares. This gap drives up trading costs, reduces the efficiency of buying and selling stocks, and ultimately raises the cost of capital for public companies.”  

Ceres' comment gives examples of how companies already disclose material climate- and weather-related financial impacts in quarterly reports, including specific dollar figures tied to wildfires, hurricanes, and other extreme weather events. Allowing semiannual reporting would substantially weaken mandatory periodic disclosure of those impacts for companies that opt out of quarterly filing. Read the full comment letter. 

In addition to submitting its own comment letter, Ceres joined a coalition of investor, labor, and public interest organizations urging the SEC to retain mandatory quarterly reporting. 

As of the date of this submission, the SEC has received more than 59,000 public comments on the proposal, the vast majority expressing opposition. 

About the Ceres Accelerator  

The Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets is a center within Ceres that aims to improve the practices and policies that govern capital markets by engaging federal and state regulators, financial institutions, investors, and corporate boards to act on climate risk as a systemic financial risk. For more information, visit ceres.org/accelerator.