The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) latest regulatory agenda remains packed with proposals in the final rule stage, most notably the agency’s climate-related disclosure package.
The rule is one of 29 the SEC indicated it would like to adopt within the next 12 months on its fall 2023 rule list released Wednesday by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. The agency’s spring list had 37 proposals in the final stage, a handful of which were recently passed as part of a Dodd-Frank Act rulemaking adoption spree.
But the agency’s controversial climate-related disclosure rule, proposed back in March 2022, has yet to be put forward to vote. That’s because the proposal received more than 16,000 comments, many expressing concern regarding requirements that public companies gather and report their Scope 3 emissions.
“Really important issues have been raised around Scope 3,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler in a hearing before Congress in September.
The SEC’s entry for the rule on its fall list has April 2024 as a targeted final action date. This date is more a placeholder, as the spring agenda listed a target date of October.
Another rule proposal from 2022 with final action targeted for April 2024 would require enhanced disclosures by certain investment advisers regarding environmental, social, and governance investment practices.
Meanwhile, rules targeted for 2024 proposal are set to address topics including corporate board diversity and human capital management disclosure.
“[W]e’re updating our rules for the technology and business models of the 2020s,” said Gensler in a statement. “We’re updating our rules to promote the efficiency, integrity, and resiliency of the markets. We do so with an eye toward investors and issuers alike, to ensure the markets work for them and not the other way around.
“As we work to advance this agenda, we greatly benefit from public input regarding the economics and the policies themselves.”
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