SEC Chairman Gary Gensler participates in a meeting of the Financial Stability Oversight Council at the U.S. Treasury on July 28, 2023 in Washington, DC. | Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted new rules that compel large companies to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and tell investors how their business is affected by climate change.
The new rules are weaker than what the SEC initially proposed in March 2022, which would have included a fuller picture of a company’s carbon footprint. Initially, it wanted each company to share pollution stemming from its operations, as well as emissions from its supply chain and the use of its products. Under the rules finalized today, companies won’t have to measure and disclose pollution from their supply chain and products — even though those emissions are often the biggest chunk of a company’s carbon footprint.
As a result,…