Are ESG rules being monitored more strict? High penalty has been issued

It seems as if the investment banks are being monitored more strict in the recent past concerning ESG commitments including own policies related to environmental, social and governance investments.

One of the top investment banks will be paying up to US $4 million after the the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission found "irregularities" in following up the banks own policies between April 2017 and February 2020.

According to the SEC, the investment bank also failed to adopt written policies and procedures governing how it evaluated ESG factors as part of its investment process until “some time after” the strategy was introduced.

The Climate and ESG Task Force within the Division of Enforcement was launched by the SEC to proactively identify ESG-related misconduct consistent with increased investor reliance on climate and ESG-related disclosure and investment.  One of it´s main tasks is to identify potential violations such as material gaps or misstatements in issuers’ disclosure of climate risks under existing rules.