As the proposed October deadline approaches for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) release of its final rendition of the climate disclosure rule, all heads are turning towards SEC Chairman Gary Gensler for the last ounce of insight they can get.
Last week, in a Senate Banking Committee hearing, Chairman Gensler testified before the committee and the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board had much to say about his wishy-washy approach to his answers. For starters, Gensler claimed that his Commission’s proposed rule is “no big deal” and asserted that the Commission has “no climate agenda whatsoever.”
However, what everyone recognizes is that these answers are all a ploy for the Commission to hide behind the real reason of their rule, talk it down, and ensure that they mitigate all chances of their rule facing legal challenges in the near future.
But the actions leading up to this point don’t weigh lightly on those who will be most impacted by the rule, or the Biden administration’s aggressive climate push. It’s why everyone, even Congress, has sounded the alarm on the true intentions the administration intends to lead through federal agency regulations.
The Commission clearly continues to send out guarded and defensive messages of its climate disclosure rule. Perhaps the SEC is trying to mitigate the chances of facing legal challenges. Investors and the business community are not likely to give in to the SEC Chairman downplaying the seriousness of what the SEC is doing.