SEC Ends Defense of Climate Disclosure Rules
On March 27, 2025, the SEC voted to end its legal defense of rules, previously adopted on March 6, 2024, which would have required public companies (excluding investment companies but not business development companies) to disclose information about their climate-related risks and greenhouse gas emissions in their registration statements and annual reports. The SEC’s adoption of the climate disclosure rules was met nearly immediately with lawsuits challenging the rules from attorneys general of numerous states and other parties filed across numerous U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal, which were ultimately consolidated in the Eighth Circuit. The SEC voluntarily stayed the rules on April 4, 2024, pending the Eighth Circuit’s review of the consolidated cases, and briefing in the cases was completed prior to the change in Administration on January 20, 2025.
Following the SEC’s vote to end its defense of the climate disclosure rules, SEC staff sent a letter to the court stating that the SEC was withdrawing its defense of the rules. SEC Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda explained that “[t]he goal of today’s Commission action and notification to the court is to cease the Commission’s involvement in the defense of the costly and unnecessarily intrusive climate change disclosure rules.” Chairman Uyeda had previously signaled the SEC’s intent to abandon its defense of the rules, issuing a statement on February 11, 2025 in which he criticized the rules as “deeply flawed” and questioned the SEC’s statutory authority to adopt the rules. In light of his views, as well as the change in the SEC’s composition following the Administration change and the “regulatory freeze” presidential memorandum that was issued on January 20, 2025, Chairman Uyeda announced in that statement that the SEC staff would request that the Eighth Circuit not schedule oral argument to provide time for the SEC to determine appropriate next steps in the cases.
On April 24, 2025, the court directed the SEC to report back within 90 days as to whether the SEC intends to review or reconsider the climate disclosure rules. If the SEC determines to take no action on the rules, it must notify the court whether it will adhere to the rules if the Petitioners’ challenge to the rules is denied, and, if not, why the SEC will not review or reconsider the rules.
The SEC’s press release announcing the end of its legal defense is available here.
Vedder Thinking | Articles SEC Ends Defense of Climate Disclosure Rules
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April 29, 2025
On March 27, 2025, the SEC voted to end its legal defense of rules, previously adopted on March 6, 2024, which would have required public companies (excluding investment companies but not business development companies) to disclose information about their climate-related risks and greenhouse gas emissions in their registration statements and annual reports. The SEC’s adoption of the climate disclosure rules was met nearly immediately with lawsuits challenging the rules from attorneys general of numerous states and other parties filed across numerous U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal, which were ultimately consolidated in the Eighth Circuit. The SEC voluntarily stayed the rules on April 4, 2024, pending the Eighth Circuit’s review of the consolidated cases, and briefing in the cases was completed prior to the change in Administration on January 20, 2025.
Following the SEC’s vote to end its defense of the climate disclosure rules, SEC staff sent a letter to the court stating that the SEC was withdrawing its defense of the rules. SEC Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda explained that “[t]he goal of today’s Commission action and notification to the court is to cease the Commission’s involvement in the defense of the costly and unnecessarily intrusive climate change disclosure rules.” Chairman Uyeda had previously signaled the SEC’s intent to abandon its defense of the rules, issuing a statement on February 11, 2025 in which he criticized the rules as “deeply flawed” and questioned the SEC’s statutory authority to adopt the rules. In light of his views, as well as the change in the SEC’s composition following the Administration change and the “regulatory freeze” presidential memorandum that was issued on January 20, 2025, Chairman Uyeda announced in that statement that the SEC staff would request that the Eighth Circuit not schedule oral argument to provide time for the SEC to determine appropriate next steps in the cases.
On April 24, 2025, the court directed the SEC to report back within 90 days as to whether the SEC intends to review or reconsider the climate disclosure rules. If the SEC determines to take no action on the rules, it must notify the court whether it will adhere to the rules if the Petitioners’ challenge to the rules is denied, and, if not, why the SEC will not review or reconsider the rules.
The SEC’s press release announcing the end of its legal defense is available here.
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