Key insights
- The SEC is moving to rescind a Biden-era climate disclosure rule, citing a return to its core mandate of focusing on information material to investors. This action, following industry-backed legal challenges and a stay on the rule, signals a potential shift away from ESG-focused regulations, which could reduce compliance costs for companies but also potentially limit investor access to climate-related risk information. The impact on US equities is mildly bearish, reflecting uncertainty and potential for increased scrutiny of companies' environmental practices.
(Corrects 4th paragraph to attribute statement to agency spokesperson)
By Douglas Gillison
WASHINGTON, May 5 (Reuters) - Wall Street’s top regulator is crafting regulations to undo a dormant Biden-era rule intended to help investors gauge companies’ climate-related spending and risks, according to a notice on the U.S. budget office website.
The move comes a year after the Securities and Exchange Commission declined to tell a federal court whether it planned either to change the rule or defend the 2024 regulations against industry-backed court challenges that dogged the agency’s rule-making efforts under the previous administration.
President Donald Trump rejects the scientific consensus on climate change and his administration has moved to undo related regulations adopted under former President Joe Biden.
In a statement, an SEC spokesperson said the agency was working to rescind the rule to return to the SEC’s "core mandate" of requiring that corporate disclosures focus on information that is material to investors, which he said was "in line with its legal authority."
Under former President Joe Biden, the SEC adopted watered-down rules requiring publicly traded companies to tell investors about climate-related risks, emissions and spending, with Republican-led states and an industry group immediately challenging this in court. The SEC then stayed the rule pending the outcome of the court battles.
Under Republican President Donald Trump, the SEC voted in March of last year to cease defending the rule in court, which industry and conservative critics said exceeded the SEC’s legal authority. An appeals court then suspended consideration of the case.
The SEC may act on the pending proposal once the Office of Management and Budget has finished reviewing the text of the SEC’s draft regulations. A timeline for final action is uncertain.