TheSecurities and Exchange Commission's freshly-minted climate disclosure rules unveiled on Wednesday are a game changer in more ways than one.
Why it matters: They create a major new mandate for public companies to reveal emissions and ways that climate change presents business risks.
State of play: The next fight begins now. GOP attorneys general from 10 states immediately filed suit.
It's an early test of a 2022 Supreme Court ruling that agencies need clear congressional blessing to regulate in areas of major economic and political significance.
Yes, but: The SEC backed off somewhat.Itjettisoned plans to force disclosure of CO2 emissions from firms' supply chains and end-uses of their products.
These "Scope 3" emissions are often the largest linked to a given company.
Another change from the 2022 draft: emissions only must be reported if companies decide they're "material" to investor decisions, and it exempts many smaller firms too.
Inside the room: Even weakened rules stitch climate far more deeply into the fabric of U.S. financial oversight, and they offer investors fresh insight into how companies assess risks.
ING analyst Coco Zhang called it a "historical moment," adding it will "greatly enhance the transparency and comparability of climate data across companies in the U.S."
Zoom out: Disclosure is a hot topic. It adds to a growing matrix of mandates — notably EU regulations and a California law (which is also being litigated) — and voluntary frameworks.
"Companies have real work to do to understand their various reporting mandates, while navigating dual challenges of continued policy uncertainty and heightened compliance risks," KPMG's Maura Hodge said in a statement.
But compliance with some rules may help meet the new mandates, she notes.
Context: It's a Rorschach test. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler and other Democratic commissioners say it's only about giving investors needed info.
But GOP critics see mission creep. They call it a bank-shot attempt to steer capital from fossil fuels and pressure companies to cut emissions.