SEC loses a key advocate for investor rights and corporate transparency

Ceres is profoundly disappointed that the U.S. Senate refused to vote on the reappointment of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw, an advocate for investor protection and climate risk disclosure, to serve another term.  

After Commissioner Crenshaw was nominated by President Trump in 2020 for her first term, she received unanimous Senate support and was confirmed by a voice vote.  The decision by some Democratic senators to oppose the nomination behind closed doors, thereby forestalling votes in the Senate Banking Committee and on the Senate floor, was an abdication of these elected officials’ duty to ensure a balanced SEC. 

In light of Commissioner Jaime Lizárraga’s unexpected decision to depart the Commission in January alongside Chair Gensler, Commissioner Crenshaw will be the only remaining Democrat on the SEC after January 20, and the SEC risks losing its traditional bipartisan composition unless Senate Republicans pair the expected appointment of incoming chair Paul Atkins to Crenshaw’s seat with a Trump-appointed Democratic nominee.  

“Throughout her tenure, Commissioner Crenshaw has been a stalwart advocate for investor protection, shareholder rights, and corporate transparency, including mandatory climate risk disclosure,” said Steven Rothstein, Managing Director of the Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets, at Ceres. “She deserved to be reconfirmed, and it is unfortunate that some lawmakers seem to have chosen to prioritize their relationship with the crypto lobby over the protection of investors and the maintenance of a transparent and accountable SEC. By all accounts, the Senate’s failure to swiftly reconfirm Commissioner Crenshaw followed an intense lobbying campaign by the crypto industry.” 

 About Ceres 

Ceres is a nonprofit advocacy organization working to accelerate the transition to a cleaner, more just, and sustainable world. United under a shared vision, our powerful networks of investors and companies are proving sustainability is the bottom line—changing markets and sectors from the inside out. For more information, visit ceres.org.