EXACT INFO ON WHAT MEMBERS NEED TO KNOW ON THE SEC CLIMATE DISCLOSURE LAW: HERE – Courtesy of Baker Hostetler & HERE – Courtesy of the National Review
DEPA (April 1, 2024) – LATEST UPDATE
On March 21, nine lawsuits against the SEC on this rule, filed in six different circuits were consolidated and reassigned by lottery to the 8th Circuit in St. Louis, MO. This meant the 5th Circuit ruling in favor of Liberty Energy and Nomad Proppant Services request for a stay was vacated. Liberty Energy and Nomad Proppant Services have filed in the 8th Circuit already asking again for injunctive relief. Working with the Pacific Legal Foundation DEPA and The Texas Alliance of Energy Producers will also be filing suit again in the 8th Circuit over the damage the rule will do to domestic energy producers. At this time, while litigation gets sorted out, reporting will begin in 2026 for fiscal year 2025.
GREENWIRE (March 24, 2025)| 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.
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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The Hill (March 15, 2024) – A federal court on Friday halted a new federal rule that would require publicly traded companies to reveal climate change-related information.
A panel of Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals judges issued an order that pauses the rule as litigation against it plays out.
The order, from Judges Edith Jones, Stephen Higginson, and Cory Wilson — appointed by former Presidents Reagan, Obama and Trump respectively — did not detail the reasons for the pause.
It came after fracking companies Liberty Energy and Nomad Proppant Services sued over the rule. They asked the court to halt the rule in the meantime, arguing that they are likely to ultimately prevail and in the meantime, would face compliance costs.
The pause does not necessarily mean that their case will ultimately succeed or that the rule will be overturned — but, it is an indication that the judges are at least somewhat receptive to the arguments of its opponents.
The rule in question, from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), requires companies to disclose what risks, if any, the changing climate poses for their business.
