The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plans to reverse a major climate disclosure policy from the Biden administration, according to Accounting Today. The agency has suggested canceling rules that would have made public companies report their greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related risks. 

The rules were adopted in 2024 when Gary Gensler was SEC Chairman, but legal challenges kept them from taking effect. The rules would have made companies share information about climate-related risks, such as how rising sea levels, hurricanes, droughts, and wildfires could affect their business and finances. Companies would also have had to report what steps they were taking to reduce these risks. 

When announcing the proposal, the SEC called the regulations a “dramatic overreach” of its authority and said the requirements were “unsound as a matter of policy.” 

“We need to stick to our knitting,” SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said on Fox Business. “Let the Environmental Protection Agency do their job and we stick to our job.” 

Earlier this year, the SEC stopped defending the rules in court, which left them in regulatory limbo. Business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce opposed the regulations, saying the SEC went beyond its authority by asking for broad climate-related disclosures. 

The agency is now seeking public feedback on the proposal, with comments due within 60 days of its publication in the Federal Register. If finalized, this decision would formally end one of the SEC’s most significant climate-related regulatory initiatives in recent years.