Public Opinion of the SEC’s Proposal for Mandatory Climate Disclosures

Author

Isaac Blanchette, University of New Hampshire, DurhamFollow

Date of Award

Spring 2023

Project Type

Senior Honors Thesis

College or School

PAUL

First Advisor

Le (Emily) Xu

Abstract

In 2022, the Security and Exchange Commission created a proposal that would make climate risk disclosures mandatory for publicly traded companies. This paper aims to understand how Congress is likely to vote on the proposal as well as how students at the University of New Hampshire perceive the proposal. Using publicly available comment letters made by members of Congress in response to the proposal and extrapolating the responses of the other representatives, it is unlikely that the proposal will have enough support to be ratified. However, a survey conducted with students at the University of New Hampshire showed that the younger population is extremely supportive of the proposal. This information indicates that the proposal has the potential to be approved by Congress in the future.

Recommended Citation

Blanchette, Isaac, "Public Opinion of the SEC’s Proposal for Mandatory Climate Disclosures" (2023). Honors Theses and Capstones. 768.
https://scholars.unh.edu/honors/768