SEC Climate Rules Face Growing Legal Peril From Green Groups (1)

The SEC’s decision to water down climate disclosure rules set for approval next week will reduce the risk of lawsuits from business interests but put the regulations under increasing legal peril from environmentalists.

The revised draft of the regulations, which will go before the Securities and Exchange Commission for a vote March 6, no longer requires companies to disclose greenhouse gas emissions from indirect sources such as suppliers and consumers—known as Scope 3 emissions—Bloomberg Law reported last week. Plans to require these emissions disclosures had drawn warnings of litigation from the business community, agricultural interests and Republican state attorneys ...