The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Thursday that it is suspending implementation of a final rule requiring companies to disclose climate-related risks pending the outcome of legal challenges from Republican-led states.
The SEC said in its ruling that the suspension does not represent a waiver of the rule and that it will continue to defend itself against court challenges from Republican attorneys general.
“The Commission has decided to exercise its discretion to maintain the final rule pending the completion of judicial review of the consolidated Eighth Circuit petitions,” the agency said in its order. “[The] The Commission continues to vigorously defend the validity of the final rule in court and looks forward to a speedy resolution of the litigation. ”
The rule, finalized by the SEC in March, requires companies to disclose the risks that climate change poses to their operations and, in some cases, requires large and midsize companies to provide information on their carbon footprint. is required to be provided. Nine Republican attorneys general, led by Iowa’s Brenna Byrd, filed a lawsuit in the Eighth Circuit arguing that the rule exceeded the agency’s authority. The lawsuit is one of three that violate the rule, with 25 Republican state attorneys general involved in the lawsuit.
Meanwhile, a coalition of 18 Democratic attorneys general filed a motion to intervene to defend the rule in an Eighth Circuit lawsuit, arguing that “investors should understand the risks that registered companies face and how those risks are managed. They need reliable and comparable information on how they are being managed.”
Separately, in mid-March, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with a hydraulic fracturing company that had filed a lawsuit over the rule.
The SEC argued in court that the rule would not cause irreparable harm to the plaintiffs, noting that one company, Liberty Energy, had already disclosed this information. .
The Hill has reached out to Byrd’s office for comment.
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