Federal court revives SEC climate disclosure rule

By Lesley Clark | 03/22/2024 01:36 PM EDT

The regulation is back in effect now that a flood of lawsuits against it has been consolidated in a federal appeals court in Missouri.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) headquarters in Washington.

The Securities and Exchange Commission headquarters in Washington. AP

The Biden administration’s landmark climate reporting rule is back in effect.

Judges of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dissolved their stay against the Securities and Exchange Commission corporate disclosure requirements now that litigation over the regulation has been assigned to a different court.

The decision comes a week after the Louisiana-based 5th Circuit sided with two fracking companies that had asked for an emergency stay of the rule that aims to detail the risks U.S. corporations and their investors face from rising global temperatures. On Thursday, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation determined through a lottery process that multiple lawsuits against the SEC rule will instead be consolidated in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Missouri.

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One 5th Circuit judge disagreed with the decision to revive the SEC rule. The court noted that Judge Edith Jones, a Reagan appointee, “believes the docket should stay as is pending transfer.”

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