For more than a year, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has continued to face ongoing opposition to their proposed climate disclosure rule that was announced last March. After failing to keep the promise of a final decision in April, the SEC has now announced that the rule could be finalized this October instead.
On Tuesday, June 13th, the SEC released an updated regulatory agenda that outlined projections pertaining to their proposed climate disclosure rule. However, the companies who would be most impacted by this rule are now left questioning if this proposed deadline will also stand true or leave them with even more questions.
The SEC has consistently exhibited their desire to continue their overreach into areas where the agency has no congressional authority to mandate, such as the proposed climate disclosure rule. The SEC continues to perpetually leave affected companies in the dark, only to resurface when they have a glimpse of when they may finalize the rule.
In these next few months, while the rule is under consideration and evaluation, the SEC should take a step back to realize that this rule will cause more harm than good by forcing companies to face high costs just to keep up with the rule’s disclosure requirements. Many companies would ultimately see impacts that would affect their financial bottom line.
If the SEC has investors and companies’ best interests at heart, they need to understand that their proposed rule should be rescinded prior to their forecasted deadline.