Originally published on March 11, 2024, by Ron Nyren, for UrbanLand Magazine. 

Last week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued new rules requiring public companies to enhance and standardize climate-related disclosures. The rules phase in over time, requiring the largest companies or public investor shares to begin making climate risk disclosures in 2025.

“We have been waiting for this for a long time, to understand what the SEC would require of publicly listed companies,” says Marta Schantz, co-executive director of the ULI Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability in Real Estate. “From our perspective, climate risk is financial risk, so we see it as important to business success that the real estate industry thinks about climate risks, and that companies understand both the physical risks and the transition risks associated with their business.

“The SEC’s ruling is important, as it sends the right signal about one of the most material risks our industry is facing,” says Brenna Walraven, president and CEO of Corporate Sustainability Strategies Inc. “Having consistent, comparable, and decision-useful information about the risks and opportunities around climate change will help not only investors but also real estate organizations invest in better mitigation, management, and transparency, which will ultimately drive better risk-adjusted returns.