Since companies began embracing ESG on a wide scale, the absence of a single, uniform set of standards for measuring corporate ESG efforts has often created headaches for legal departments.

As the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission prepares to unveil a set of rules for climate-related disclosures, some general counsel and attorneys who work on environmental, social and governance matters say the standardization is long overdue. But others worry a universal framework, which could potentially lack industry-specific nuances, actually could result in companies’ giving less meaningful information to investors.