Commissioner Crenshaw Statement on Climate-Related Disclosure Litigation

As part of the litigation surrounding the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Climate-Related Disclosure Rules, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals directed the Commission to provide a Status Report to the Court on the Commission’s intention to enforce or reconsider the relevant disclosure rules. In its status report to the Court, the SEC noted that it has no intention of revisiting the climate disclosure rules but added that it is difficult for the SEC to detail what its future plans may be, because that would be pre-judging policy decisions.

Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw, the lone Democratic member of the Commission, noted that in its response the SEC failed to directly respond to the Court’s question regarding whether the SEC will adhere to the finalized rules if the petitions for review are denied. In her statement, Commissioner Crenshaw noted “The Commission simply does not want to say what we all know to be true by now—it has no intention of allowing the Climate-Related Disclosure Rules to go into effect.” Commissioner Crenshaw emphasized that the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) “remains intact” and governs the process by which agencies make and repeal rules, including a “prescriptive framework for promulgation and rescission.” Commissioner Crenshaw added that the SEC must do the “statutorily-required work” which includes engaging in “notice-and-comment rulemaking, with the benefit of economic analysis and a public, transparent process, even if inconvenient or if the Commission has other, more pressing priorities.”

Click here to read Commissioner Crenshaw’s statement on climate disclosure litigation in the Eighth Circuit.