The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu The leading online blog in the fields of corporate governance and financial regulation. Sun, 05 Jul 2026 11:30:59 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.8 https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/cropped-photography-4-e1706898544564-1-32x32.png ESG and the Biden Presidency – The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu 32 32 ESG and the Biden Presidency https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2021/02/19/esg-and-the-biden-presidency/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=esg-and-the-biden-presidency https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2021/02/19/esg-and-the-biden-presidency/#comments Fri, 19 Feb 2021 13:43:33 +0000 https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/?p=136455?d=20210219100607EST Posted by Suzanne Smetana, State Street Global Advisors, on Friday, February 19, 2021
Editor's Note:

Suzanne Smetana is Head of ESG Investment Integration at State Street Global Advisors. This post is based on her SSgA memorandum.

Executive Summary

In a dramatic change from the previous administration, we expect the administration of President Joseph Biden to implement a broad range of policy changes meant to mitigate climate risk and bring the US back into the global sustainability conversation. We will be monitoring several themes that we believe could arise under the Biden presidency:

  • Rising Calls for ESG Disclosure
  • Stricter Climate Regulations
  • Changing Operational Backdrops in Various Industries
  • Investors Increasingly Pricing ESG Criteria Into Decision-Making
  • US Department of Labor (DOL) ESG Rule

Rising Calls for ESG Disclosure

In the ESG space, some investors distinguish between broad, high-level “principles-based” disclosures, which were championed by the previous administration, [1] and “rules-based” disclosures, which are pinpointed metrics such as water usage or carbon emissions. The Biden administration could signal a shift to more rules-based disclosures, especially in climate risk, increasing the need for companies to track ESG metrics.

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