SEC Moves to Kill Landmark Climate Disclosure Rules
June 2, 2026
On Friday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed rescinding rules that would have required public companies to disclose a wide range of climate-related information.
- The rules were approved under Biden-era SEC Chair Gary Gensler in March 2024, but never took effect. Please see here for CREFC’s response to the original climate proposal in 2021.
- The SEC framed the rollback as “returning the agency to its core mandate – in line with its legal authority – and restoring a materiality-focused approach to securities regulation.”
Why it matters: The SEC's proposal would, if finalized, mark a significant rollback of one of the agency's most ambitious recent disclosure initiatives. It is also the latest signal of the Trump administration's retreat from climate policy.
The backstory: The rules were originally designed to give investors new transparency into climate-related risks, which many investors had flagged as critical to understanding today's markets.
- The rule drew fierce opposition from business groups and conservatives who argued the SEC had overstepped its authority.
- Several lawsuits were filed immediately following the rule’s publication. The SEC stayed the rules in April 2024 pending litigation in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and voted in March 2025 to stop defending them in court.
- Last September, the Eighth Circuit held the consolidated petitions in abeyance until the SEC either reconsidered the rules through notice-and-comment rulemaking or renewed its defense of them.
In their recission proposal, the SEC stated that the rule:
- Was unnecessary and inconsistent with a materiality-based approach to disclosure,
- Strayed beyond the policy concerns of the federal securities laws, and
- Imposed costs on public companies and shareholders not justified by the informational benefits they may provide to some investors.
What's next: The public comment period remains open for 60 days following publication of the proposal in the Federal Register.
Please contact Sairah Burki (sburki@crefc.org) with questions.