Recently DFIN conducted a webinar about recent and pending regulatory changes from the SEC, as well as from the EU and California, that have or will impact many US companies including those doing business in the EU and California. The presenters include internal DFIN subject matter experts, as well as outside legal and ESG experts. These experts discussed the impact of recent regulatory changes such as SEC Pay versus Performance and Universal proxy rules, pending climate and cybersecurity disclosure rules, and EU and California climate disclosure rules. Certain of these changes require use of iXBRL data tagging and other machine readable, “structured” formats, which is a new development for US proxy statements, and which is a core competency of DFIN and its Saas reporting tool, ActiveDisclosure.
In addition to regulatory changes, the panel discussed trends such as “ESG backlash” including the filing of “anti-ESG” shareholder proposals, and projected shift from over-use of the broad “ESG” label, to use of more specific terms (whether “sustainability”, “climate impact”, “employee health & safety”, etc), and offered some “crystal ball” projections in these areas.
The content of the webinar has been codified in a white paper that you can access below.
