For Immediate Release

Contact:

Dan.Schneider@mail.house.gov (Hill)

Alex.Bellizzi@mail.house.gov (Barr)

Brian.Patrick@mail.house.gov (Huizenga)

Date: July 28, 2021

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. French Hill (AR-02), Rep. Andy Barr (KY-06), and Rep. Bill Huizenga (MI-02) today issued the following statement after Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler indicated that he’s directed the SEC “to develop a mandatory climate risk disclosure rule proposal for the Commission’s consideration by the end of the year.”

“Before requiring any type of climate risk disclosure from public companies, the SEC needs to examine the inconsistencies and methodologies related to measuring climate risk. As we have said in hearings, interviews, and on the House Floor, without proper metrics, we’re putting the cart before the horse. We have no problem if a company wants to disclose climate risk. Our issue is that the government should not be mandating what companies should and should not disclose, because if climate poses a material risk to a company, it should already disclose those risks. Understanding the metrics is far more important than rushing into Chairman Gensler’s arbitrary deadline.”

Further Background:

In June, Rep. Hill led a letter, co-signed by 22 Republican members of Congress on the Financial Services Committee, to SEC Chairman Gensler outlining their views with the SEC’s plans to mandate disclosures for public companies regarding climate change and greenhouse gas emissions.   

Rep. Hill also offered an amendment on the House Floor to improve and replace Democrats’ H.R. 1187, the ESG Disclosure Simplification Act of 2021, a partisan, left-wing bill aimed at naming and shaming public companies.

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