Republican-led SEC abandons climate rule; Dem commissioner calls move ‘unlawful’

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Republican leadership is abandoning the climate-related disclosure rule package passed last year by Democrats, hoping that the courts will kill regulations already on life support.

On Thursday, the SEC voted to cease defending the climate-related disclosure rules in various court challenges. Doing so means the courts will likely side with the plaintiffs, who claimed in their filings that the agency overstepped its authority by implementing the rules.

“The goal of today’s commission action and notification to the court is to cease the commission’s involvement in the defense of the costly and unnecessarily intrusive climate change disclosure rules,” said Mark Uyeda, acting SEC chair, in a press release.