Thank you for having me today. I know Chairman Clayton wanted to be here this morning, and I commend his prepared remarks to you. The Committee has an ambitious agenda today. You could easily spend all day on either of these topics – ESG investing or our Concept Release on the Harmonization of Securities Offering Exemptions.[1]

I know from the dozens of meetings I’ve had since I was confirmed how much emphasis investors put on ESG issues. Investors are increasingly putting their money into companies with good policies and track records on sustainability, ethical business standards, and good governance. Many see this as a solid, common sense approach to building long-term value.[2] I hope we will hear from this morning’s panel about their views on this, as well as the role they believe the SEC should play in this area.

For example, as most of you know, we last issued guidance on climate-related disclosure in 2010.[3] A lot has changed since then in terms of what we know about the significance of climate risk from a scientific standpoint,[4] as well as what we know about the risks companies face as a result.[5] A lot has also changed in terms of the kinds of disclosure that investors need to accurately assess and price that risk, on everything from board oversight of the risk to estimates related to stranded assets. I’m glad to see this committee take up ESG investing and look forward to learning about your work.

I’m also glad to see the focus on the Concept Release. One of the issues that concerns me in this space is the lack of thorough information on Regulation D offerings. As many of you know, the Commission put out a rule proposal in 2013,[6] a planned investor protection follow-up after it eliminated the prohibition on general solicitation under Regulation D.[7]

One goal of that 2013 proposal was to enhance our visibility into this massive private market in order to have good data from which to assess the existing exemptions, as well as to determine whether and how to go about additional related rulemakings.[8] The Commission has not finalized that rule, and I’m concerned about our continued lack of visibility into this market – especially if we are considering potential changes that might pave the way for retail investor access.

Again, I appreciate very much this Committee’s focus on these important areas and look forward to the discussion. Thank you.