Washington – Unlocking America’s Future today released a new report revealing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) climate risk disclosure rule does not pose a serious financial burden on corporations, despite false claims from the oil and gas industry. Appearing before the House Financial Services Committee last month, Liberty Energy CEO Chris Wright claimed the rule would impose “immense costs” on companies like the one he runs. First reported in Politico, the new report lays bare the marginal compliance costs of the SEC’s rule on corporations, and how it stacks up to Liberty Energy’s $556 million in profits in 2023, among other major oil companies.
“Billionaires from the oil and gas industry are seeing their chances of killing the SEC’s climate risk disclosure rule dwindle, and they are now resorting to threats in their congressional testimony to get their way,” said Kyle Herrig, spokesperson for Unlocking America’s Future. “Climate risk disclosures increase transparency for investors and Americans trying to save for retirement. Americans overwhelmingly and across party lines support the SEC’s climate risk disclosure rule, and Big Oil’s threats to jack up consumer prices are empty.”
After the SEC issued its final ruling in March 2023 following a two-year comment period, Big Oil tapped its network of state politicians and advocacy groups to file six separate lawsuits using desperate legal avenues to try and kill the rule. In parallel on Capitol Hill, self-serving federal lawmakers yielded their power to attempt to overturn the rule through the Congressional Review Act (CRA) – a legislative tool used by Congress to review certain federal agency actions.
Now, companies like Liberty Energy, ExxonMobil, and Occidental Petroleum are pushing back and making baseless claims that, if the rule is upheld, the compliance costs will force them to raise consumer prices.
Read the full report here.
