Court halts SEC climate disclosure rule

A federal court on Friday blocked a new federal rule requiring publicly traded companies to disclose climate change-related information.

A panel of judges from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order suspending the rule while litigation against it progresses.

The orders from Judges Edith Jones, Stephen Higginson, and Corey Wilson, who were appointed by former Presidents Reagan, Obama, and Trump, respectively, do not detail the reasons for the suspension.

This comes after hydraulic fracturing companies Liberty Energy and Nomad Proppant Services filed suit over the rule. They asked the court to halt the rule for now, arguing that they would likely ultimately prevail and face compliance costs in the meantime.

The suspension does not necessarily mean that the case will ultimately succeed or that the rule will be overturned, but it is a sign that the justices are at least somewhat receptive to the opponents’ arguments.

The regulation in question from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires companies to disclose what risks, if any, climate change poses to their businesses.

It also requires some large and medium-sized companies to disclose the amount of carbon dioxide they emit directly and the amount of carbon dioxide emissions from energy use.

The SEC opposed the suspension of court filings, saying it did not show that the companies would suffer imminent and irreparable harm.

“Liberty Energy, a publicly traded company seeking relief, has already publicly disclosed certain climate-related risks,” SEC General Counsel John Ruddy said in court documents.