Full Disclosure

Company CEOs that lobby for CO2 taxes or other measures for CO2 abatement are going to be required to tell shareholders about the possible effects of such legislation on their companies.

Washington, DC - Corporate CEOs who have been actively lobbying for cap-and-trade climate legislation may soon find themselves in an embarrassing position thanks to a new Securities and Exchange Commission regulation, says Tom Borelli, Ph.D., director of the National Center for Public Policy Research's Free Enterprise Project.

The SEC voted January 27 to provide public companies with interpretive guidance that encourages corporations to disclose the possible business and legal impact of climate change to shareholders. Full disclosure will require companies to assess and describe how cap-and-trade legislation can harm company earnings.

"Fully disclosing the business risk of cap-and-trade will embarrass many CEOs who are lobbying for emissions regulations. Shareholders will discover that these CEOs are pursuing legislation that will negatively impact their company," said Borelli.

By issuing interpretive guidance on climate change, the SEC is encouraging companies to fully describe a wide range of business and legal risks posed by climate change on business operations. In these communications with shareholders about business risk, the SEC wants companies to address the following areas: Impact of Legislation and Regulation, Impact of International Accords, Indirect Consequences of Regulation or Business Trends, and Physical Impacts of Climate Change.

I think the added paper work will dim their ardor even if nothing else does.

Bill Gates who is no longer head of Microsoft seems to be ahead of the game.

NEW DELHI — Rich nations' cash pledges to combat climate change must not come at the cost of healthcare spending, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates warned in an interview published Tuesday.

The entrepreneur-turned-philanthropist told the Times of India that money promised at last month's Copenhagen summit to enable developing countries to tackle climate change could cut into healthcare aid budgets.

"I am concerned that some of this money will come from reducing other categories of foreign aid, especially health," Gates told the newspaper.

"With an additional pledge for global warming, the budget of rich countries will be out of balance and they will look to cut down on expenditure."

A total of 30 billion dollars was pledged at Copenhagen for 2010-2012 to help poor countries in the frontline of climate change, and wealthy nations sketched a target of providing 100 billion dollars annually by 2020.

Which is more or less what Bjorn Lomborg said in his 2001 book The Skeptical Environmentalist.

Cross Posted at Classical Values