Because Of Course: SEC Drops Proposed (Weakened) Rule For Companies To Disclose Climate Risks

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday proposed to repeal a contentious rule that would have required thousands of companies to disclose the risks they face from a warming planet and how their operations contribute to climate change. The rule was already on hold pending litigation. In February, Mark Uyeda, then the acting chairman of the S.E.C., directed the agency to stop defending the regulation in court against lawsuits from business groups and Republican-led states.

Still, the proposed rollback was a victory for a range of business interests that had lobbied to kill or weaken the regulation, including airlines, oil and gas drillers, farmers, retailers and truckers. It was a blow to climate activists and some corporations that had embraced environmental, social and governance principles, known as E.S.G., in recent years. The rule was issued under the previous S.E.C. chairman, Gary Gensler, who was nominated by President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Paul Atkins, who was nominated by President Trump and sworn in as the commission chairman last year, said in a statement on Friday that the rule exceeded the agency’s legal authority.

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If it had gone forward, the rule would have required all publicly traded companies to disclose whether they faced significant risks from climate change and its effects, including more frequent and more severe floods, wildfires and hurricanes. For example, a hotel chain would have had to inform investors of risks to waterfront properties from rising seas and storm surges.In addition, the biggest publicly traded companies would have had to report their emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases. However, that reporting was required only if the companies considered these emissions “material,” or important to a reasonable investor.

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Brenna Bird, the Iowa attorney general, also argued that the rule was part of President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s “radical green scheme.” (The S.E.C. is an independent agency that does not directly answer to the White House, though Mr. Trump has sought to exert greater control over such agencies.) “The radical climate mandate imposed by the Biden Securities and Exchange Commission was an outrageous act of overreach,” Ms. Bird said in a statement on Friday. “I am grateful the S.E.C. is taking the important step to kill this.”

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https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/29/climate/sec-climate-disclosure-rule.html