United States ESG Content

The House Financial Services Committee, Subcommittee on Diversity & Inclusion, recently produced a report and held a hearing on diversity and inclusion in America's largest investment management firms.

ICI has filed a comment letter with the Securities and Exchange Commission on its proposed amendments to enhance reporting of proxy voting information by registered investment companies ("funds") and institutional investment managers ("managers") on Form N-PX ("Proposal").

The MSRB has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to solicit public input on environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices in the municipal securities market. The Board is seeking this input as part of its broader engagement on ESG trends.

This memorandum catalogues significant ESG related developments that have occurred since October. It references ICI memoranda that provide a more fulsome description of each matter.

Summarized briefly below are several recent ESG-related developments that we bring to your attention. A brief description with links to the relevant documents are provided below. We will provide more fulsome memoranda describing these developments in the near future.

On October 21, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC or Council) released a report on Climate-Related Financial Risk. The report is the first time that the Council has identified climate change as an emerging and increasing threat to US financial stability and demonstrates...

Last week, SEC Chair Gensler delivered brief remarks before the Financial Stability Oversight Council, highlighting the Commission's work on drafting proposals on public company and fund climate risk-related disclosure.

On October 13, 2021, the Department of Labor (DOL) released a proposal (the "Proposal") addressing the selection of investments for ERISA plans and proxy voting by plan fiduciaries. The Proposal would amend two rules finalized at the end of the Trump Administration, "Financial Factors...

ICI's Board of Governors unanimously approved a statement on "Financing the Transition to Net Zero," identifying specific actions the industry can take to facilitate the economic transition to net zero emissions and meet investors' objectives.