new climate rules for businesses
The Biden administration doesn’t have the votes to jam their radical climate rules through Congress, so they’ve resorted to an end-run through a financial regulatory agency. The SEC- Securities and Exchange commission- has published a list of rules that require businesses to report things that are …ridiculous, and for many, they are completely irrelevant.
“The Biden Administration is pushing its climate agenda through financial regulators because they don’t have the votes to pass it in Congress. The SEC’s proposal to require disclosure of information related to climate change that is not material for most companies is tone-deaf and misguided.” (House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Patrick McHenry).
Climate rules coming through!
The SEC is a panel of 5, but currently is made up of 4 people, 3 of whom are Democrats. And the 5th one, another Republican, bailed in January of last year, so Biden will have a vacancy to fill. The 4th Commissioner, Republican Hester Peirce, has told them she will absolutely not vote for the proposal because the SEC doesn’t have the authority to do it.
“The proposal will undermine the existing regulatory framework that for many decades has undergirded consistent, comparable, and reliable company disclosures. We cannot make such fundamental changes to our disclosure regime without harming investors, the economy, and this agency…
Congress, however, did not give us plenary authority over the economy and did not authorize us to adopt rules that are not consistent with applicable constitutional limitations. This proposal steps outside our statutory limits by using the disclosure framework to achieve objectives that are not ours to pursue.”
Commissioner Hester Peirce
Here are some of the general directions the SEC is proposing, along with 12 specific regulations.
- Climate-related risks and their actual or likely material impacts on the registrant’s business,strategy, and outlook;
- The registrant’s governance of climate-related risks and relevant risk management processes;
- The registrant’s greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions, which, for accelerated and large accelerated filers and with respect to certain emissions, would be subject to assurance;
- Certain climate-related financial statement metrics and related disclosures in a note to its audited financial statements; and
- Information about climate-related targets and goals, and transition plan, if any.
When Obama was in office, he over-regulated American businesses through Executive Orders on climate change that instituted rules which literally crushed American businesses. As an example, they had to install special meters for utility companies to monitor everyone’s heat/gas/fuel usage. Trump deregulated businesses so that the economy would grow. Biden removed all of the Trump actions to crush the economy. Are they “hijacking the democratic process?” Absolutely.
Cross-Posted with Conservative Firing Line
