New SEC Acting Chair Takes First Steps to Roll Back Climate Disclosure Rule

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) new Acting Chair Mark Uyeda requested that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit halt any scheduled arguments on the agency’s climate risk disclosure rule to determine appropriate next steps given Uyeda and Commissioner Hester Peirce’s prior opposition to the rule. Uyeda’s statement also cites President Trump’s recent memorandum on the regulatory freeze in halting the rule.

In response to the news, Ben Cushing, Sustainable Finance Campaign Director, Sierra Club, issued the following statement:

“The SEC has full legal authority to require climate risk disclosures to protect investors and improve market transparency. Rescinding this rule would be a significant setback, further isolating the U.S. on the global stage as climate-related financial risks continue to grow. The climate crisis and the transition to net zero are already reshaping the economy, and jurisdictions from California to the European Union to countries across Asia are moving forward with disclosure requirements — meaning that many companies will report this information regardless. The SEC’s retreat will only make capital markets less efficient and allow corporate polluters to conceal risks from investors. 

It’s also worth remembering that by statute, the SEC is an independent regulatory agency, so it’s disturbing to see the Acting Chair cite President Trump’s broad deregulatory efforts as a motivation for abandoning the climate risk disclosure rule. Investors and the American people need regulators to fulfill their duties, not enact radical ideological agendas.”

BACKGROUND

The climate disclosure rule (titled “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors”) was adopted in March 2024 and would require companies to disclose standardized, comparable information to investors about financially material climate-related financial risks. 

Industry groups and their political allies immediately filed lawsuits challenging the new requirements, and in August 2024, the Sierra Club and other organizations submitted an amicus brief in the 8th Circuit in defense of the SEC's authority to issue the rule.

During the rulemaking process, the proposed disclosure requirements garnered near- unanimous investor support. According to an analysis by Ceres, 100 percent of investors that commented on the proposed rule — representing nearly $50 trillion in assets under management — supported qualitative, standardized disclosures in line with those of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), and 97 percent supported disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions.