WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed repealing a 2024 rule that requires some public companies to report their greenhouse gas emissions and the risks they face from global warming. The agency said it is moving to rescind the disclosure rules "in their entirety because they exceed the scope of the agency’s statutory authority."

The climate-disclosure rule has been on hold since last year after the Republican-led commission paused its legal defense following legal challenges by business groups and Republican state attorneys general. The SEC stated that the 2024 rules "impose substantial costs on public companies and their shareholders that are not justified by the informational benefits they may provide to some investors."

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said eliminating the rule will "avoid the practical effect of dictating corporate behavior" and ensure that agency rules will "be imposed only when the expected benefits justify the likely costs and burdens." The SEC currently has three Republican members, including Atkins, and no Democrats. The rule was originally approved in March 2024 on a party-line vote, with three Democratic commissioners supporting it and two Republicans opposing it.

Kathy Fallon, director of land systems at the nonprofit Clean Air Task Force, said, "The SEC’s mission is to protect investors and the public by ensuring they have access to material information." She added, "While imperfect, the rule was an important step toward giving investors consistent information about financially material climate risks, including the use of carbon offsets." Fallon urged the commission to retain the rule and enforce disclosure requirements "that give both investors and the public the transparency they need." Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts criticized the proposal, saying it "is the result of years of work by corporate polluters to delay, defang and decimate rules meant to protect people’s investments from risky and reckless business models." He added that Americans’ retirement security, union pensions and savings should be protected by the SEC, "not put in harm’s way by companies that are exposed to climate risks or that depend on an unfettered ability to pollute in order to make money."

A public comment period will remain open for 60 days following publication of the proposal in the Federal Register, expected in the next few days.