Coming Clean : Corporate Disclosure of Financially Significant Environmental Risks

In Coming Clean Corporate Disclosure of Financially Significant Environmental Risks , WRI economists Robert Repetto and Duncan Austin examine the extent to which one group of companies are failing to disclose their exposure to financially material environmental issues. In a companion WRI report entitled Pure Profit: The Financial Implications of Environmental Performance, the authors showed that in the U.S. pulp and paper industry-just one of many sectors for which the environment poses financial threats-many impending environmenta l issues are likely to affect companies' competitive positions and fundamental shareholder values. Coming Clean shows that such risks have not been adequately disclosed in annual or quarterly filings to the SEC. Such omissions appear to infringe the SEC's own rules and guidelines, endangering investors as a result. The report, raises issues regarding the SEC's enforcement policies as well as companies' reporting practices.