NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) – Attorney General Eric Schneiderman recently announced that his office has secured an agreement with Peabody Energy Corp. after an alleged violation of New York state law.
According to the attorney general’s office, Peabody violated New York laws prohibiting false and misleading conduct in the company’s statements to the public and investors in regards to financial risks related to climate change and regulatory responses.
Peabody will now file revised shareholder disclosures with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The agreement states they must accurately and objectively represent these risks to investors and the public.
“As a publicly traded company whose core business generates massive amounts of carbon emissions, Peabody Energy has a responsibility to be honest with its investors and the public about the risks posed by climate change, now and in the future,” Schneiderman said. “I believe that full and fair disclosures by Peabody and other fossil fuel companies will lead investors to think long and hard about the damage these companies are doing to our planet.”
Under the agreement, Peabody must commit to ending certain representations to investors and to the public when it comes to climate change.
Schneiderman began looking into Peabody’s financial disclosures in 2013.