S.E.C. Proposes to Kill Climate Change Disclosure Rule

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday proposed to repeal a contentious rule that would have required thousands of companies to disclose the risks they face from a warming planet and how their operations contribute to climate change.

The rule was already on hold pending litigation. In February, Mark Uyeda, then the acting chairman of the S.E.C., directed the agency to stop defending the regulation in court against lawsuits from business groups and Republican-led states.

Still, the proposed rollback was a victory for a range of business interests that had lobbied to kill or weaken the regulation, including airlines, oil and gas drillers, farmers, retailers and truckers. It was a blow to climate activists and some corporations that had embraced environmental, social and governance principles, known as E.S.G., in recent years.

The rule was issued under the previous S.E.C. chairman, Gary Gensler, who was nominated by President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Paul Atkins, who was nominated by President Trump and sworn in as the commission chairman last month, said in a statement on Friday that the rule exceeded the agency’s legal authority.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/29/climate/sec-climate-disclosure-rule.html