President Trump’s top Wall Street cop moved Friday to kill a sweeping Biden-era climate rule that would force US firms to report on global warming risks and their own greenhouse gas emissions.
Paul Atkins, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, blasted the climate change disclosure regulation as growth-strangling red tape that “exceeded our authority.”
“We need to stick to our knitting. Let the Environmental Protection Agency do their job and we stick to our job,” he said in an interview with Fox Business, casting the move as part of President Trump’s deregulation agenda that he vowed would “make IPOs great again.”
The 68-year-old lawyer said SEC disclosure rules “should avoid the practical effect of dictating corporate behavior, and be imposed only when the expected benefits justify the likely costs and burdens.”
Atkins added that Joe Biden’s brand of woke capitalism placed “substantial costs on public companies and shareholders not justified by informational benefits.”
The rule, drafted under Biden’s SEC chair, Gary Gensler, never took effect after a slew of lawsuits in 2024 by the US Chamber of Commerce and 25 GOP Attorneys General put the policy on ice.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird was one of the loudest voices demanding that the law be scrapped, and brought several legal challenges to see the legislation axed.
“The radical climate mandate imposed by the Biden Securities and Exchange Commission was an outrageous act of overreach,” Bird said. “I am grateful the SEC is taking the important step to kill this.”
Atkins’ policy repeal, which could be formally rubber-stamped within the next year, marked a massive victory for corporate America, especially the banks, airlines, oil drillers, farmers and retailers who hated the idea of more paperwork.
Had the rule survived, every publicly traded company would have been required to warn investors about big threats from floods, wildfires and hurricanes.
A hotel chain, for example, would have been forced to report dangers to beachfront properties from rising seas.
The biggest firms also would have had to disclose their own planet-warming emissions — but only if they decided those numbers mattered to regular investors.
An initial version of the rule went further by demanding that companies track emissions from customers and suppliers, too, before being watered down amid industry and investor uproar.
The push for greener reporting rules became part of what is known as ESG, an acronym for environmental, social, and governance.
The movement champions climate change, gender diversity and better workplace conditions, and became a lightning rod for Republicans in the 2024 presidential election campaign.
Even with the climate-disclosure rule heading for the dustbin, US companies aren’t completely off the hook from climate-related red tape.
California already has its own tough disclosure law on the books.
Both public and private companies doing business in the biggest US state must report greenhouse gas emissions, with first filings due Aug. 10.
There are also 41 other countries around the world that have similar rules or proposals in place, covering about 60% of the global economy.
It means many US public companies will still face disclosure headaches if they operate overseas or in the Golden State.
The SEC now opens the floor for public comments for 60 days before making Atkins’ repeal final.
The SEC is independent of the White House and oversees the financial industry to ensure investors are protected.
Its job is to make sure companies provide honest information so people can make smart decisions when they buy stocks.
Friday’s proposal aligns with the Trump administration’s broader push to cut regulations it views as unnecessary burdens on American companies.
