New Rule Would Force Climate Change Reporting on Most Companies

Biden Securities & Exchange Commission has proposed that publicly traded companies be required to calculate and report their own greenhouse gases emissions as well as those of their suppliers, customers, logistics operators, and customers. The proposal could conceivably cover almost every company in America—even those that aren’t publicly traded and don’t fall under the SEC’s purview—adding enormous compliance costs and legal fees to their bottom lines.

In anticipation of the new 506-pageGary Gensler, Chairman of the SEC, proposed a rule that accounting firms should not be hiring. thousandsof new employees to prepare themselves for the coming onslaught in climate change financial paperwork by publicly-owned companies.

The rule will be open to public comments until May 20Before it can be adopted, the SEC Commissioner HesterM. Peirce gave strong testimony against the proposal in a statement titled “We are Not the Securities and Environment Commission – At Least Not Yet.” Peirce was outvoted 3-1 by the other commissioners on moving the rule forward.

Three unelected government bureaucrats at the SEC who voted in favor of the proposal would be wielding ludicrous power over almost every business in America—the kind directly contrary to what the Founders intended when they penned the U.S. Constitution.

The left uses a tactic that is disingenuous, and it is harmful to America. It presents an argument that appears absurd in the hope that more time and effort can be spent debating the merits. It serves as a smokescreen to stop honest debate from taking place.

The result is confusion. This confusion is intended to create the perception of a need for experts to bring clarity to the confusion created by the left. This way, the debate “must” be left to unelected judges or experts who can decide things based on leftist ideology–and commonsense can be overridden.

Here are some examples of absurd arguments that only experts can answer.

  • Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., asked whether Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson could define the word “woman.” Jackson responded to Blackburn: “I can’t … I’m not a biologist.”
  • Jen Psaki, White House Press Secretary, says we don’t knowCOVID-19 can be contracted by anyone over 79 who is more at risk than those in their twenties.
  • And now, Gensler’s SEC has put forth 506 pages of proposed regulations requiring all public companies to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and—except in the cases of smaller reporting companies–“the actions of the company’s suppliers and consumers” and their greenhouse gas emissions. If the SEC doesn’t agree with their assessments, they will pay added compliance costs and legal fees. The rule also requires that they disclose all climate risk they may be exposed to. This will require additional accountants and climate change specialists to address the additional requirements. This will result in huge added costs that can only be afforded by larger companies.

Do you see a pattern? It is important to emphasize that no one knows everything. We are all as confused as possible about everything, until an expert is roundly promoted by the mainstream media and left to be the one who can reveal the truth.

It is very dishonesty and disingenuous. They make it seem that people are being defensive and that facts must be proved so that legitimate debate can take place.

It is an attempt at obscuring the facts and reality, and to cause Americans to be unsure about the things. Experts are more qualified to tell if someone is a man or woman, or to say that COVID-19 makes older people more dangerous than younger people.

Because the left hopes it can convince Americans that experts should answer all their questions and that everyone should be able to think for themselves, experts are made to appear to be needed to answer the most basic questions.

Gensler’s SEC has required that public companies disclose all risks and uncertainties related to their structure, operations, futures, and structures. The 506-page rule is a power grab to give people like BlackRock’s Larry Fink and other so-called environmental, social, and governance enthusiasts even more misbegotten control over companies than they already have. It gives climate change zealots a new tool with which to bludgeon companies if they don’t defer to the climate change lobbyists’ points of view.

Fink, for example, already uses BlackRock’s large holdings of passive investments held for index fund investors in publicly traded companies to force those companies into supporting his left-wing agenda. All told, those companies are currently worth about 28% of America’s gross domestic product, which shows the kind of massive influence leftist ideologues already hold over American businesses and the economy.

Gensler or Fink may not agree with everyone on climate change risks. Gensler’s new proposed rules require every public company in America to agree with left-wing advocates about the threats carbon dioxide emissions and climate change pose and then prioritize those ephemeral risks over the real harm done to people if they can’t afford to heat their homes because these advocates have driven up the price of fuel.

They require companies prioritize those ephemeral risks over the real harm done to people if they can’t drive their cars to work because gasoline prices are sky-high because oil drilling has been banned and so-called environmentalists have succeeded in shutting down pipelines carrying oil. They don’t seem to care if regulatory compliance costs and high diesel prices make transporting goods more expensive; contribute to inflation; or make families poorer, affecting their health, nutrition, happiness, and well-being.

Gensler and Fink have high intelligence and are well-educated. The fronts they put up as the champions of small investors, or of the “little guy,” or of supposed low-income victims of climate change are not real. Don’t believe the hype.

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