(Article from Registered Funds Regulatory Update, April 2026)
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On May 29, 2026, the SEC proposed rescinding in their entirety the disclosure requirements adopted under the Securities Act and the Exchange Act that would have required public companies to disclose certain climate-related risks in registration statements and annual reports. Those requirements, originally adopted in March 2024 under former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, were stayed by the Commission in April 2024 pending judicial review and never implemented.
The SEC proposed to rescind the climate-related disclosure rules in their entirety on the grounds that the rules “exceed the statutory limits on the Commission’s disclosure authority.” The SEC also identified several independent policy reasons to rescind the rules, including that the rules: (i) are unnecessary and inconsistent with a registrant-specific, materiality-based approach to disclosure; (ii) extend beyond the policy objectives of the federal securities laws; (iii) impose substantial costs that are not justified by the potential informational benefits to certain investors; and (iv) are inconsistent with the SEC’s policy objectives of facilitating capital formation and promoting public company status. The SEC estimates that rescission of the rules will result in approximately $4.9 billion in annualized cost savings across all affected registrants over a ten-year period.
In an accompanying statement, SEC Chair Atkins characterized the rescission as a central component of his broader agenda to realign the Commission’s disclosure requirements with its statutory authority. SEC Chair Atkins stated that “SEC disclosure obligations should comply with the Commission’s statutory authority, be guided by materiality as the North Star, avoid the practical effect of dictating corporate behavior, and be imposed only when the expected benefits justify the likely costs and burdens.” Similarly, SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda described the climate-related disclosure rules as rules “to influence how a business operates hidden under a cloak of disclosure,” asserting that the federal securities laws “were never intended to be an amorphous tool to elicit environmental and social policy changes.”
Public comments on the proposed rescission of such climate-related disclosure rules are due August 3, 2026.
Rescission of Climate-Related Disclosure Rules, SEC Release Nos. 33-11421; 34-105572; File No. S7-2026-19 (May 29, 2026), available at: https://www.sec.gov/files/rules/proposed/2026/33-11421.pdf.
Paul S. Atkins, SEC Chair, Statement on Proposing Release for Rescission of Climate-Related Disclosure Rules (May 29, 2026), available at: https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/atkins-statement-rescission-climate-related-disclosure-rules-052926.
Mark T. Uyeda, SEC Commissioner, Statement of Commissioner Mark T. Uyeda on the Rescission of Climate-Related Disclosure Rules (May 29, 2026), available at:
https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/uyeda-statement-rescission-climate-related-disclosure-rules-052926.