<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1655414885927,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000162-07af-d172-a563-4fefeeac0001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1655414885927,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000162-07af-d172-a563-4fefeeac0001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_55244537", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1032720"} }); rn","_id":"00000181-6e6a-d082-a1ad-7efb88920000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedRepublicans took aim Thursday at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed climate disclosure rule, blasting it as an “unnecessary” regulation that oversteps SEC authority and risks causing undue harm to consumers, employers, and the U.S. economy as a whole.
Under the SEC’s proposed climate disclosure rule, all publicly traded companies in the United States would be required to gather and report extensive data about their contributions to global warming, including any greenhouse gas emissions produced either directly or indirectly, though Republicans have asserted that “almost none” of that information is material to financial information overseen by the SEC.
The rule would also require companies to assess and report how climate change could adversely affect their business, including through risks posed by extreme weather conditions, such as storms, drought, and unusually high temperatures.
The 500-page SEC proposal has prompted strong criticism from Republicans at the national and state level. On Thursday, a group of 24 GOP state attorneys general filed a formal complaint against the SEC proposal, which it said promotes “policy preferences far afield of the Commission’s market-focused domain.”
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“We need to be very hesitant before allowing the wholesale transformation of the nation’s federal securities regulator into an environmental watchdog,” said West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who led the multistate effort.
Morrisey was joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming.
If approved, the state attorneys general said, they expect the SEC “will use it as a precedent for asserting many new powers in extra-statutory ways.”
Meanwhile, Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee also criticized the proposed rule. In a statement, Sens. John Kennedy (LA) and Pat Toomey (PA), said the “sweeping proposed climate disclosure rule will impose enormous costs on the entire U.S. economy if it goes into effect.”
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It is “unnecessary and inappropriate, exceeds the SEC’s mission and expertise, will harm consumers, workers, and the entire U.S. economy at a time when energy prices are skyrocketing, and hijacks the democratic process in determining U.S. climate policy,” they added.
Also Thursday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce cited concerns about the scope of the SEC proposal, citing fears that the proposed rule “may prove counterproductive” by forcing companies to produce “extensive amounts of information that is not material, thus obscuring for investors what is most important to making informed voting and investment decisions.”
