EXCLUSIVE — Dozens of conservative-leaning groups are calling on Congress to strike down a controversial new Securities and Exchange Commission rule that would require large corporations to issue disclosures about their carbon emissions.
The SEC voted to adopt the rule, which requires companies to issue reports to investors on the effects of their operations on climate change, earlier this month in a 3-2 vote. The groups in the letter call for Congress to “use all of the legislative powers at your disposal” to overturn the rule.
The signatories branded the rule as a “radical climate agenda” regulation that “stifles American innovation through mountains of paperwork and endless red tape.”
“The SEC is tasked with regulating securities — stocks and bonds — not maneuvering a destructive climate agenda behind the backs of Americans’ duly elected representatives in Washington,” the letter reads. “This rule is a vast overreach beyond the modest powers granted to the SEC under federal law.”
The letter was organized by Advancing American Freedom and includes some 60 other groups associated with the Right, including Americans for Tax Reform, Americans for Prosperity, and Consumers’ Research.
The SEC climate disclosure rule in question is part of President Joe Biden’s broader climate agenda, which envisions cutting greenhouse gas emissions by more than half when compared to 2005 levels by the end of the decade.
The rule creates guidelines for how and what companies must report to investors about how their operations affect the climate. It requires large- and mid-sized companies to report greenhouse gas emissions — reports that would be audited by an outside party.
The rule is significantly pared back from a proposed version by omitting a requirement that corporations disclose emissions generated by suppliers and customers. Still, it has already faced a legal challenge from several Republican-led states.
Senate Republicans also initiated an effort to strike down the rule within minutes of it being announced.
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SEC Chairman Gary Gensler is a major proponent of the rule and has spoken out in support of it.
“These final rules build on past requirements by mandating material climate risk disclosures by public companies and in public offerings,” Gensler said about the time the climate disclosure rule was approved. “The rules will provide investors with consistent, comparable, and decision-useful information, and issuers with clear reporting requirements.”
