In her brief time as acting chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this year, Democrat Allison Herren Lee did not play the traditional role of “caretaker.” Initiating a flurry of activity in early March, Lee effectively set the SEC’s trajectory on a new progressive agenda.

This new direction at the SEC is playing out with an initiative to mandate prescriptive environmental, social, and corporate governance disclosures in the annual filings of public companies.