States Step In: Corporate Climate Reporting

California climate reporting rules for businesses are underway and legislation has been reintroduced in New York and New Jersey mirroring the Golden State. Although federal climate reporting initiatives were quashed last year when the Securities and Exchange Commission opted to cease defense of its own climate-related disclosure rules against legal challenges, state programs are picking up the slack.

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The expansive reach of state requirements could result in many companies reporting greenhouse gas emissions and other sustainability data to regulators. It is imperative that state-level programs are harmonized to limit the burden on covered entities and to ensure that high quality, actionable data is generated. The implications for business, accounting professionals, and investors, as well as environmental policy setters and regulators, is profound. This program brings together stakeholders to review the rapidly changing landscape of requirements, and to evaluate the impact on companies, investors, and the environment. The program is from 1:00 PM to 4:00 followed by a networking reception.

Speakers

Daniela Arias, Emerging Risk Market Leader, Crowe LLP

Daniela Arias is an Emerging Risk Consulting leader at Crowe LLP. A CPA with deep SEC reporting experience, Daniela sits at the intersection of climate regulation, financial disclosure, and assurance. With over a decade of experience serving SEC registrants ranging from IPO-stage companies to large accelerated filers, she brings a practitioner’s lens to ESG reporting, grounded in SOX 404, disclosure controls, and regulatory scrutiny. Her work today focuses on sustainability reporting strategy, stakeholder engagement and materiality, carbon footprint assessments, internal controls over sustainability reporting, and regulatory reporting across industries including financial services, technology, manufacturing, life sciences, and more.

Daniela is a participant in the AICPA Sustainability Assurance Task Force, contributing to the development of guidance that shapes how climate and sustainability information is assured in the U.S. At a time when state-level climate mandates are accelerating and expectations for reliable, decision-useful data are rising, Daniela brings both technical rigor and practical insight to the conversation on what high-quality climate reporting truly requires.

Greg Bartholomew, ISSB Technical Staff, IFRS Foundation

Greg Bartholomew is a member of the ISSB Technical Staff who leads the workstream on supporting the implementation of IFRS S1 and IFRS S2. In this role, he oversees and contributes to the development of educational materials related to the requirements in ISSB Standards and responses to implementation challenges and questions. Previously, he led the ISSB’s Consultation on Agenda Priorities and the development of the ISSB’s technical agenda and work plan.

Before joining the IFRS Foundation, Greg was a Senior Manager in Deloitte & Touche’s national office, specialising in accounting and reporting services and sustainability-related services. At Deloitte, Greg advised companies on the interpretation and application of financial and sustainability accounting standards to company-specific fact patterns. He also contributed to and led the development of Deloitte publications on financial and sustainability accounting topics.

Jessica Mann, CFA, Head of Stewardship, Allspring Global Investments

Jessica Mann is the head of Stewardship for Allspring Global Investments. She joined Allspring from its predecessor firm, Wells Fargo Asset Management (WFAM). Before WFAM, Jessica was the head of Standard Setting at CFA Institute. Earlier she was at Watson Wyatt Partners as an investment consultant In the UK and before that she was at Mercer Investment Consulting in London and Richmond, VA, where she began her investment industry career in 1992. Jessica earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Virginia. She has earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst^® (CFA^®) designation and is a member of CFA Institute and CFA Society San Francisco and a fellow of CFA Society United Kingdom.

Marc Rotter, Counsel, Ropes & Gray

Marc Rotter joined the capital markets group of Ropes & Gray in 2021. Prior to joining the firm, Marc practiced in the New York and London offices of another prominent global law firm. Marc concentrates his practice on advising investors, issuers, selling shareholders, underwriters and other market participants on securities law matters and capital market transactions, including public offerings and private placements, beneficial ownership reporting, Section 16, resales of restricted securities, insider trading and other regulatory issues. Marc has an active practice advising clients on securities law issues related to digital assets, including tokenized securities and other assets, cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Marc also has extensive experience advising on mandatory and voluntary ESG disclosures, including to meet U.S. state and federal, EU and UK requirements, as well as to conform to voluntary frameworks and standards. Marc also has been lead author on numerous industry group comment letters on ESG disclosures.

Marc serves as chair of the ESG Committee of New York State Bar Association’s Business Law Section. During law school, Marc served as a student attorney with the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, where he represented low-income tenants.

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