Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Transparency topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
CalPERS presses for continued climate disclosure, backs private-market reporting standards
Summary
A CalPERS staff member said the system will push federal regulators to uphold a climate-related disclosure rule and supports standardizing private-equity reporting, citing the need for consistent data to assess long-term risks to member pensions; the speaker also noted a high transparency ranking from CEM Benchmarking Institute.
A CalPERS staff member told the board the system will press federal regulators to maintain climate-related disclosure requirements and is backing efforts to standardize investor reporting in private equity so investors can compare risks and returns.
‘‘This is a rule that CalPERS has long supported,’’ the staff member said of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s climate disclosure rule, adding that the policy ‘‘simply seeks to ensure investors have clear and consistent data related to a company’s material climate related risks.’’ The speaker said last week the acting SEC chair signaled the agency would pause defending the rule in court and said CalPERS plans to make its case to new SEC leaders.
The staff member emphasized the disclosures are intended to provide data for investment decisions, not to set targets for scope 3 emissions, saying, ‘‘It is not about setting targets for scope 3 emissions. I think we’ve been really clear about that.’’ The speaker framed climate risk as a financial risk and said protecting members’ pension investments requires assessing that risk accurately.
On private markets, the staff member said ‘‘a prominent organization representing limited partners in private equity proposed new guidelines to standardize the size and scope of investor information’’ and that CalPERS, as a leader in that organization, ‘‘strongly supports the effort.’’ The staff member said standardized information helps compare investment opportunities and sustain private-equity momentum.
The speaker also cited an independent survey by the CEM Benchmarking Institute that ranked CalPERS third globally for public-disclosure transparency and number one among U.S. public pension plans in that survey. The staff member said internal and external transparency scores improved from the previous year.
CalPERS did not identify the limited-partners organization by name during these remarks, and the staff member did not provide dates for planned meetings with new SEC officials or additional details about next steps.
