Monday, March 8, 2021 A series of recent announcements by the SEC underscores the agency’s commitment—and allocation of resources—to its heightened focus on environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) issues. Significantly, on March 4, 2021, the SEC announced the creation of a Climate and ESG Task Force in the Division of Enforcement. 1 As discussed in a prior alert, companies should be prepared for greater scrutiny of their disclosures concerning ESG, as well as related litigation, and these recent developments reinforce that analysis. The Climate and ESG Task Force, led by Kelly L. Gibson, the SEC’s Acting Deputy Director of Enforcement, will focus on identifying “material gaps or misstatements in issuers’ disclosures of climate risks under existing rules,” examining “disclosure and compliance issues related to investment advisers’ and funds’ ESG strategies,” and evaluating whistleblower complaints related to ESG issues. Acting Deputy Director Gibson said in a statement that the new Task Force would further the agency’s goal of “[p]roactively addressing emerging disclosure gaps that threaten investors and the market.”