SEC publishes U.S. PIRG’s comment and 7,903 signatures on proposed greenwashing rules

Yesterday the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published U.S. PIRG’s comment letter in support of two rules proposed by the SEC which would clamp down on greenwashing of “sustainable” mutual funds. Our letter also made recommendations for strengthening the rules.

More from our letter about why the rules are needed:

Investors seeking investments in line with their values deserve accurate and transparent information.

Your proposed rules for how investment advisory firms and financial advisers can market ESG funds and how they must back up their ESG claims would provide investors the standardization necessary to improve the reliability and comparability of such funds.

We also submitted the names of 7,903 U.S. PIRG supporters who signed on to the following message in support of clamping down on investment fund greenwashing by adopting the two proposed rules:

Dear Chairman Gensler,

Too often, “green” or “sustainable” mutual funds don’t live up to their environmentally friendly claims.

Thank you for proposing rules for how investment advisory firms and financial advisers can market ESG funds and how they must back up their ESG claims.

We urge you to issue these much needed rules, which will provide more accurate and transparent information for people seeking investments in line with their values. I also urge you to ensure that there isn’t wiggle room for environmentally-related terms to mislead investors, for example by calling a fund “fossil free” if it includes contradictory investments.”