SEC moves to repeal rule that requires companies to report greenhouse
gas emissions and climate risk
[May 30, 2026] By
MATTHEW DALY
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the latest action to undo Biden-era regulations on
climate change, the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday
proposed repealing a rule that requires some public companies to report
their greenhouse gas emissions and the risks they face from global
warming.
The climate-disclosure rule has been on hold since last year, after the
Republican-led commission said it was pausing its legal defense after
legal challenges by business groups and Republican state attorneys
general.
The SEC said in a statement that it is now moving to rescind the
disclosure rules “in their entirety because they exceed the scope of the
agency’s statutory authority." The rules, finalized in 2024, “impose
substantial costs on public companies and their shareholders that are
not justified by the informational benefits they may provide to some
investors,” the commission said.
Eliminating the rule will “avoid the practical effect of dictating
corporate behavior” and ensure that agency rules will "be imposed only
when the expected benefits justify the likely costs and burdens,” SEC
Chairman Paul Atkins said in a statement.
Environmental groups said the action would leave investors without data
they need to accurately assess financial risks and other hazards related
to climate change.
“The SEC’s mission is to protect investors and the public by ensuring
they have access to material information,” said Kathy Fallon, director
of land systems at the nonprofit Clean Air Task Force. “While imperfect,
the rule was an important step toward giving investors consistent
information about financially material climate risks, including the use
of carbon offsets.”
She urged the commission to retain the rule and enforce disclosure
requirements "that give both investors and the public the transparency
they need.”
Repeal of the climate-disclosure rule is among dozens of environmental
rollbacks imposed in President Donald Trump's second term. The
Environmental Protection Agency has eliminated major climate change
programs, promoted deregulatory efforts that Trump calls the largest
such move in American history and canceled billions of dollars in
Biden-era environmental justice grants.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has focused on weakening or eliminating
regulations perceived as climate-friendly, including revoking a
scientific finding that has long been the central basis for U.S. action
to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change.
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A barge on the Ohio River moves past the Mountaineer Power Plant, a
coal-fired power plant near New Haven, W.Va., March 13, 2026. (AP
Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
 Zeldin has said his actions will put
a “dagger through the heart of climate change religion.”
The SEC, an independent agency whose members are appointed by the
president, approved the climate rule in March 2024 on a party-line
vote. Three Democratic commissioners supported it and two
Republicans opposed.
The commission currently has three Republican members, including
Atkins, and no Democrats.
The 2024 rule was one of the most anticipated in recent years from
the nation’s top financial regulator, drawing more than 24,000
comments from companies, auditors, legislators and trade groups over
two years. The vote brought the U.S. closer to the European Union
and states like California, which have imposed similar corporate
disclosure rules.
Sen. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who long pushed for the
disclosure rule, said the SEC announcement “is the result of years
of work by corporate polluters to delay, defang and decimate rules
meant to protect people’s investments from risky and reckless
business models.”
Americans’ retirement security, union pensions and savings should be
protected by the SEC, “not put in harm’s way by companies that are
exposed to climate risks or that depend on an unfettered ability to
pollute in order to make money,” Markey said in an email to The
Associated Press.
Tom Zimpleman, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council,
said the SEC is shirking its responsibility to protect investors.
“Climate risk is financial risk,” he said.
A public comment period will remain open for 60 days following
publication of the proposal in the Federal Register, expected in the
next few days.
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