On March 27, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted to end its defense of the climate disclosure rules it adopted last year that would have required publicly traded companies disclose climate-related risks and greenhouse gas emissions.

The rules were initially set to go into effect in 2026, but they have been subject to ongoing litigation that has been consolidated in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. The SEC previously stayed the rules' effectiveness pending that litigation.

The SEC’s decision to end its defense of the climate disclosure rules has been widely anticipated since the change in presidential administrations—and based on public remarks made by the agency’s acting chairman, Mark Uyeda, who voted against the rules and has called them “deeply flawed.” 

While a number of states intervened in defense of the rules—and may continue to present arguments on behalf of the rules in court—it seems unlikely that they will survive given the SEC itself no longer supports them.

Although the SEC’s climate disclosure rules may be dead, companies may still  be subject to similar rules from other disclosure regimes, including the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive or California’s Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act and Climate-Related Financial Risk Act (the California rules are also subject to litigation). A number of other U.S. states have also proposed climate disclosure laws, including New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and Colorado. Companies will want to continue to monitor developments with respect to these laws.