On April 24, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ordered that the litigation challenging the validity of the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) climate disclosure rule be “held in abeyance pending further order of the court” and directed the SEC “to file within 90 days [by July 23, 2025] a status report advising whether the Commission intends to review or reconsider the rules at issue in this case.”

As we previously reported, the SEC voted in March to end its defense of the climate disclosure rules it adopted last year that would require publicly traded companies to disclose climate-related risks and greenhouse gas emissions.

If the SEC decides that it will take no action on the rule (i.e., not engage in the administrative process necessary to revoke the rule), then it must address in the status report whether it will enforce the climate disclosure rule if the court ultimately upholds the rule, and it must explain its reasons for not reviewing or reconsidering the rules.

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 the outcome of this litigation.