The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has delayed the implementation of its climate-related disclosure rule in response to legal challenges from two fracking companies and various business groups. This decision awaits the judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on the appeals. Despite this, the SEC continues to assert its authority to mandate public companies to disclose their climate-related risks to investors and is prepared to defend the rule's validity in court. The stay temporarily halts the rule, which would first apply to large accelerated filers for fiscal years beginning in 2025, with other companies following at least a year later. Legal experts recommend companies continue preparing for compliance, while the appeals process could extend over months or years.
The Securities and Exchange Commission today adopted rules to enhance and standardize climate-related disclosures by public companies and in public offerings. The final rules reflect the Commission’s efforts to respond to investors’ demand for more consistent, comparable, and reliable information about the financial effects of climate-related risks on a registrant’s operations and how it manages those risks while balancing concerns about mitigating the associated costs of the rules.
The adopting release is published on SEC.gov and will be published in the Federal Register. The final rules will become effective 60 days following publication of the adopting release in the Federal Register, and compliance dates for the rules will be phased in for all registrants, with the compliance date dependent on the registrant’s filer status.