17 States Push Trump SEC to Bury Biden's Costly Climate Rules for Good

By John Damon | Just The News Iowa

A coalition of 17 state financial officers is calling on the Trump administration's Securities and Exchange Commission to permanently kill the Biden-era climate disclosure rules, arguing the mandates were an illegal federal power grab that would have cost businesses billions with no real benefit to investors.

The August 3 letter, signed by state treasurers, auditors, and comptrollers from 13 states, urges the SEC to fully rescind the climate reporting requirements adopted in March 2024. The officials warn against replacing the original rules with a watered-down version that would still impose heavy compliance costs on American companies.

What the Biden ESG Rules Would Have Done

The SEC rule required publicly traded companies to disclose detailed information about greenhouse gas emissions, climate-related risks, severe weather impacts, and their internal climate management strategies. Critics said the mandates forced businesses to build expensive new compliance systems for data that had little connection to actual financial performance.

The state officers contend that Congress never authorized the SEC to use securities law as a backdoor climate policy tool. Their letter states: We support the proposed rescission of the climate-related disclosure rules and urge the Commission to finalize it in full. Doing so will restore the Commission's disclosure framework to its proper, materiality-based foundation, relieve registrants and their shareholders of unjustified costs, and respect the limits Congress placed on the Commission's authority.

Trump SEC Moves to Undo the Mandates

The SEC under Chairman Paul Atkins proposed eliminating the rules in May, calling them a dramatic overreach of the agency's authority. Atkins has said disclosure rules should focus on information that materially affects investors, not give federal regulators another way to dictate corporate behavior.

The Biden rules never took effect. The SEC stayed them in April 2024 after legal challenges were consolidated in the Eighth Circuit, and the agency stopped defending them in court in March 2025. But the rules still require formal rescission, and the state officers want the job finished without preserving any pieces of the ESG machinery.

The Staggering Cost to Businesses and Investors

The SEC estimates that rescinding the rules could save affected companies approximately $4.9 billion per year over the next decade. The commission separately estimated that companies would avoid roughly $7.9 billion in initial compliance costs. Either figure exposes how much money Biden's regulators were prepared to spend on their climate agenda.

Utah Treasurer Marlo Oaks said the proposed rescission returns the SEC to its proper role. For years, the ESG movement sought to use the SEC to advance a climate agenda through disclosure mandates that went beyond material financial information and imposed unnecessary costs on businesses and investors. Rescinding this rule returns the SEC to its proper role as a neutral financial regulator focused on protecting investors and facilitating markets.

Why This Matters for Iowa

Iowa's economy relies heavily on agriculture, manufacturing, and energy production. The Biden climate rules would have forced Iowa-based companies and those doing business in the state to spend millions on compliance systems for data unrelated to their bottom lines. The state's public pension funds, managed by the Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System, also invest in companies that would have been hit by the mandates.

The push from state financial officers aligns with broader conservative efforts to rein in federal overreach and protect Iowa businesses from costly regulations that Congress never authorized.

What Comes Next

Companies already must disclose climate-related risks when those risks are financially material. The state officers argue that is sufficient. The Trump SEC now has the opportunity to formally end the Biden ESG experiment and return the agency to its core mission of protecting investors and facilitating capital markets.

The letter from the 17 state officials adds pressure on the SEC to finalize the rescission quickly and without compromise.