SEC’s acting chair postpones next steps of climate disclosure rule

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February 14, 2025

The acting chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ordered a delay in the next steps of the regulator's new climate disclosure rule.

Mark Uyeda said the rule is "deeply flawed and could cause significant harm to the capital markets and our economy," adding that the SEC's court submissions defending the climate reporting rule do not align with his views.

Therefore, he has requested that legal proceedings against the rules are postponed to allow him time to consider and decide on the appropriate next steps in these cases.

Uyeda noted that he voted against the rule’s adoption, alongside Commissioner Hester Peirce, who argued that the existing disclosure rules were sufficient and that the new regulation’s anticipated benefits do not outweigh its costs.

Among other reasons their vote against, they stated that the rule would require the disclosure of a large volume of financially immaterial information, that financially material climate-related risks were already addressed by existing rules and that the rules overstepped the SEC's authority.

The rule, which was introduced in April 2024, requires companies to include certain climate-related disclosures in their registration statements and periodic reports, though it does not include Scope 3 emissions.

The rule has faced multiple delays. In December 2023, the SEC postponed the expected adoption until one year after the original timeline.

Following this, the Fifth Circuit US Court of Appeals granted an administrative stay, temporarily halting the rules before further legal action was taken.

Liberty Energy and Nomad Proppant Services then filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas to block the rule.

Subsequently, a group of 35 Republican lawmakers called on the Eighth US Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis to vacate the SEC's climate disclosure rules.

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