SEC proposes rolling back controversial Biden climate disclosure rules

The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed rescinding rules imposed under the Biden administration that mandate that public companies report their carbon emissions and climate change-related risks. 

The commission described the climate disclosure rules as “unnecessary,” claiming the dormant rules exceed the scope of the agency’s statutory authority and impose significant costs on public companies and their shareholders. 

“SEC disclosure obligations should comply with the Commission’s statutory authority, be guided by materiality as the North Star, avoid the practical effect of dictating corporate behavior, and be imposed only when the expected benefits justify the likely costs and burdens,” SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said in a statement.

The SEC has also said the rules are “inconsistent with a registrant-specific, materiality-based approach” for disclosures, stray beyond policy concerns of federal security laws, and are “at odds” with the agency’s policy objectives of facilitating capital formation and promoting public company status. 

It marks the latest