The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is beginning the process of rescinding the climate disclosure rules introduced by the Commission during the Biden administration, according to a filing submitted to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, and confirmed by an SEC spokesperson in a statement provided to ESG Today.
In the statement, the spokesperson said:
“At the Chairman’s direction, SEC staff is preparing a recommendation to the Commission to rescind the agency’s 2024 climate rules.”
The new move by the SEC follows an order issued in September 2025 by the U.S. Court of Appeals directing the Commission to determine the fate of the climate reporting rule, turning down an SEC request to have the court issue a ruling on the legality of the rule. In its decision, the court stated that “It is the agency’s responsibility to determine whether its Final Rules will be rescinded, repealed, modified, or defended in litigation.”
The climate reporting rules were adopted by the agency in 2024, under prior Biden-appointed SEC Chair Gary Gensler, establishing for the first time requirements for public companies in the U.S. to provide disclosure on climate risks facing their businesses, plans to address those risks, the financial impact of severe weather events, and, in some cases, greenhouse gas emissions originating from their operations.
The rule faced a series of legal challenges immediately following its release, and was paused in 2024, pending a review of the legal petitions. While the agency subsequently launched a legal defense of the rule, following the election of the Trump administration, and the subsequent resignation of Gensler, the SEC announced that it would drop its defense. Under its new Chair, Paul Atkins, the SEC then told the court that it did not intend to review or reconsider the rule, and instead requested that the court decide the issue, leading to the September order.
A new rulemaking procedure to rescind the climate reporting rule could potentially be a lengthy process, involving publishing the proposed rule along with explanations and legal authority justifying the rule, opening a public commentary period, with agency staff required to consider and respond to significant issues raised in the comments, and with the final rule itself being potentially open to legal challenges.
In the statement, the SEC spokesperson said:
“Under Chairman Atkins, the Commission is focused on returning the agency to its core mandate – in line with its legal authority – restoring a materiality-focused approach to securities regulation.”
