Treasury/Financial Agenda

Judge Denies Industry Bid To Block California GHG Laws During Appeal

A federal judge is denying industry groups’ request to block implementation of California’s corporate climate-disclosure laws while they appeal the judge’s earlier rejection of their request for a preliminary injunction, and is also staying the First Amendment case until the appellate court issues a decision. In a Sept. 11 order in Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, et al. v. Liane M. Randolph, et al. , Judge Otis Wright, II of the U.S. District Court for the...

Interagency Finance Council Abandons Climate Change Risk Panels

The interagency Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) is abandoning its work on climate-related financial risks because Trump officials no longer believe climate change is a financial stability risk, underscoring a sharp reversal from the Biden administration that saw the issue as a growing concern for the economy. During a Sept. 10 meeting, FSOC voted to rescind the charters of the council’s Climate-related Financial Risk Committee and Climate-related Financial Risk Advisory Committee. Both were created during the Biden administration as part...

8th Circuit Continues Pause Over SEC Climate Disclosure Rule Lawsuit

An appellate court is continuing to pause litigation over the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) climate-related disclosure rule, concluding the agency must conduct a notice-and-comment rulemaking to rescind the Biden-era rule or resume its legal defense of the measure. “It is the agency’s responsibility to determine whether its final rules will be rescinded, repealed, modified, or defended in litigation,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit writes in a Sept. 12 order in State of Iowa, et al....

Experts Flag Significance Of CARB Guidance For Climate Disclosure Rules

Industry attorneys and other experts are highlighting new guidance from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to help companies comply with forthcoming requirements to report climate-related financial risks and measures to reduce and adapt to such risks, underscoring the significance of the state’s first-in-the-nation mandates. “The bulk of the draft guidance consists of a checklist to be used in preparing the climate risk report required by Section 38533,” states a Sept. 3 blog post by attorneys with Ropes & Gray,...

Industry Seeks To Block California GHG-Disclosure Laws During Appeal

Industry groups say a federal district court should block implementation of California’s corporate climate-disclosure laws while they appeal the court’s earlier decision rejecting their request for a preliminary injunction, renewing their argument that implementation will violate their First Amendment rights. “The state’s opposition is based on a false premise: that this motion is a second bite at the preliminary-injunction apple. It is not,” says a Sept. 2 reply brief by the groups in support of their motion for an injunction...

New CARB Draft Rules For GHG-Disclosure Laws Spur More Questions

California Air Resources Board (CARB) officials are providing new details of their regulatory proposals to implement landmark laws requiring large companies to report greenhouse gas emissions and climate risks -- including how to determine which businesses will be included, reporting deadlines and fee amounts. However, stakeholders are raising a barrage of new questions about the effort, and industry groups are continuing to advance litigation seeking to block implementation of the state laws despite a recent adverse court ruling. “I do...

Order Likely Dooms Industry Challenge To California GHG-Disclosure Laws

A federal district court’s rejection of industry groups’ push to quickly block implementation of California’s corporate climate disclosure laws likely dooms the challenge because the judge does not expect the groups will succeed on the merits of their claim that the laws violate their First Amendment rights, experts say. “[U]nless this judgment is successfully appealed, the climate disclosures promulgated by California, which mandate disclosures of climate risk for companies with over $500 million in revenue, and the disclosure of Scope...

CARB Poised To Unveil Proposals To Implement Climate Disclosure Rules

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is poised to unveil draft regulatory proposals to implement landmark laws requiring large companies to report their greenhouse gas emissions and climate risks, including a fee rule and key definitions to determine which companies are subject to the requirements. In addition, CARB staff is preparing to discuss steps to phase-in reporting requirements for all “scope 3” supply-chain emissions. According to an Aug. 7 notice , CARB staff will hold a virtual workshop Aug. 21...

Democratic States Urge 8th Circuit To Keep SEC Climate Rule Suit Paused

Democratic-led states that have intervened to defend the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) high-profile climate-related disclosure rule are urging an appellate court to continue a pause in litigation over the rule, until the commission’s GOP majority clearly states how it would respond to a possible court ruling upholding the measure. The states are criticizing the SEC’s request for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit to rule on the merits to the challenges of the Biden-era rule, ostensibly...

SEC Urges 8th Circuit To Decide Climate Rule Fate, Drawing APA Complaints

The Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) is urging an appellate court to rule in litigation challenging Biden-era corporate climate disclosure requirements, though critics say the move aims to avoid time-consuming regulatory processes that would be required under an administrative repeal of the standards. In response to an inquiry from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, the Republican-led SEC says in a July 23 status report that it “does not intend to review or reconsider the rules at...

Powell Says Federal Reserve Might Not Play ‘Any Role’ On Climate Change

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell says the central bank will not try to play “any role” on climate change issues, while defending the agency’s limited steps on the topic during the Biden era as the “bare minimum,” including climate risk guidance that he said officials might rescind. “It is a big risk to our independence if we were to stray into areas where we shouldn’t, that really aren’t part of our mandate, and I would agree that climate is the...

Industry Attacks Proposal To Exempt California GHG Rules From Analysis

Numerous industry groups are attacking California lawmakers’ surprise budget proposal to skip key environmental- and economic-impact analyses for the state air board’s rules to implement two landmark 2023 laws requiring large companies to report their greenhouse gas emissions and climate risks. “It’s very interesting that these [laws], which were presented as being about transparency and accountability, are now being exempted from statutes that squarely address transparency and accountability,” said Jon Kendrick, a lobbyist for the California Chamber of Commerce, during...

CARB Floats Definitions, Compliance Options For Climate Disclosure Rules

California Air Resources Board (CARB) officials are floating key definitions and compliance timelines for rules to implement landmark laws requiring large companies to report their greenhouse gas emissions and climate risks, while also seeking additional input from stakeholders regarding the initial proposals. “We know that these are complex issues, but we’re committed to developing a regulation that is streamlined, sound and clear,” said Sydney Vergis, a CARB assistant division chief, during a May 29 staff workshop on the development of...

Republican SEC Member Says Court Should Decide On GHG Disclosure Rule

A Republican member of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is arguing that the agency should not issue a new rulemaking to repeal landmark Biden-era climate-related disclosure requirements, and that courts should instead resume consideration of state and industry lawsuits against the measure and hopefully rescind it. The SEC issuing a repeal of the measure would be “a diversionary tactic to avoid answering the key questions of statutory authority and compliance with the” Administrative Procedure Act (APA), argued SEC Commissioner...

CARB Rebuts Industry Injunction Bid For Landmark GHG-Disclosure Rules

The California air board is urging a federal court to reject industry’s bid to halt a rulemaking to implement two landmark 2023 climate disclosure laws, arguing the plaintiffs do not face “irreparable harm,” are unlikely to prevail on the merits of their free-speech claims, and present an unripe challenge to one of the laws. “Plaintiffs cannot show a likelihood of success on the merits,” states an April 7 opposition brief filed by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) in Chamber...

Banking agency ditches ‘burdensome’ Biden-era climate risk guide

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) says it will no longer use a Biden-era guidance for how banks should assess climate-related risks, while three bank regulators are signaling plans to walk back changes to another rule that encouraged banks to boost local climate resilience. “The principles providing guidance to banks for climate-related financial risk are overly burdensome and duplicative,” Acting Comptroller of the Currency Rodney Hood says in a March 31 statement about the OCC move. At...

SEC Formally Abandons Court Defense Of Climate-Related Disclosure Rule

The Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) is dropping its legal defense of Biden-era climate-related disclosure rules, though the agency’s sole Democratic member is slamming the decision as seeking to circumvent necessary procedure to rescind the high-profile measure. In addition, climate and investor advocates say the reversal is a “short-sighted” decision that leaves investors without clear, organized information to inform their decisions amid increasing climate-related financial risks. “The goal of today’s Commission action and notification to the court is to cease...

As ‘Impossible’ Deadline Nears, Groups Debate CARB GHG-Disclosure Rules

Stakeholder groups are advancing competing calls about how strongly the California Air Resources Board (CARB) should enforce looming mandates for large companies to report their greenhouse gas and climate-related financial risks, as officials face a July 1 deadline to finish complex rules to implement 2023 state laws with those requirements. “[E]ven if CARB could complete the rulemaking by this date, which we do not believe is possible, companies are still required to meet original statutory deadlines” for reporting climate data,...

CARB Seeks Rejection Of Last Claim In Suit To Halt GHG-Disclosure Rules

California air board attorneys are outlining arguments for why a federal court should dismiss the one remaining claim -- violation of free speech protections -- in an industry lawsuit seeking to halt the board’s rulemaking to implement two 2023 laws requiring large companies to report their greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related financial risks. In a March 17 answering brief , the California Air Resources Board (CARB) lists a host of “affirmative defenses” consisting of succinct, one-line denials of paragraph-by-paragraph allegations...

State Officials Clash Over Climate Risk In Pension Plans As Courts Weigh In

Republican and Democratic state officials are clashing over whether pension fund managers may weigh climate-related risks in their investment decisions and whether federal agencies should bar such practices, continuing a legal debate over the topic that could play out in further litigation over any federal action. In a Jan. 28 letter , Republican financial officers urged the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Labor Department (DOL) to issue guidance and regulation to govern fiduciaries’ consideration of climate and other ESG...

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