Eighth Circuit Tells SEC to Defend Climate Rules or Fix Them

The Eighth Circuit on Friday rebuffed the SEC’s bid for the court to proceed with litigation challenging the agency’s Biden-era corporate emissions reporting requirements, after the regulator abandoned its defense of the rules earlier this year.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has the “responsibility to determine whether its Final Rules will be rescinded, repealed, modified, or defended in litigation,” the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said in an order. The litigation can resume if the agency reconsiders the rules or starts defending them again, the court said.

The SEC, now controlled by Republicans who oppose the 2024 climate rules, told the Eighth Circuit in July it decided against either reviewing or reconsidering the regulations after it stopped defending them in March. The court should proceed with the litigation and rule on it, the agency said.

The regulations require companies to report their greenhouse gas emissions and make other climate disclosures. Republican attorneys general, business groups, and others sued to scrap the rules last year, challenging the SEC’s authority to issue them. The agency has paused its enforcement of the regulations amid the litigation.

An SEC spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The case is Iowa v. SEC, 8th Cir., No. 24-01522, order filed 9/12/25.