SEC Backs Shareholder Proposal for Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reporting
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has supported a proposal from a shareholder of Chubb Ltd., which calls for a vote on increased transparency regarding the company’s greenhouse gas emissions. This initiative aims to shed light on emissions stemming from Chubb’s operations, insurance underwriting, and investments.
Submitted by Green Century Capital Management Inc., representing the Green Century Equity Fund, the proposal highlights that many of Chubb’s industry counterparts, such as Travelers, American International Group, and Hartford, have exceeded mere legal disclosure requirements to provide a comprehensive view of their financed and insured emissions.
Green Century’s proposal requests that Chubb generate a report on its greenhouse gas emissions at a reasonable cost and without revealing proprietary information.
In response, Chubb has characterized the proposal as ‘duplicative and wasteful of company and shareholder resources’, pointing to its existing climate strategy and disclosures. The insurer contended that the data sought would be difficult to measure accurately and would not offer meaningful insights into climate risk exposure.
“Even if it were possible to produce a scientifically sound estimate… such an estimate would provide no basis to assess Chubb’s exposure to climate risks,” the company stated in a January 10 letter to the SEC, arguing that the proposal was tantamount to micromanagement.
However, the SEC disagreed with this assessment, stating, “In our view, the proposal does not seek to micromanage the company…. In our view, the company has not substantially implemented the proposal.”
This decision occurs within a broader context of evolving climate-related policies. On March 27, SEC Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda announced that the commission would no longer defend its contentious climate disclosure rules, which have faced legal challenges since their adoption.
In other news, Chubb has estimated a pretax loss of $1.5 billion from the January wildfires in Los Angeles. CEO Evan Greenberg remarked on the increasing challenges in the California market, emphasizing that it complicates the insurer’s ability to price risk accurately and enhance coverage affordability through tailored solutions. He noted that rising risk indicators are being muted by government actions at various levels.
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