Washington DC - The Trump administration on Thursday scrapped plans to require publicly listed companies to disclose data on greenhouse gas emissions and their exposure to climate risks.

The Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) justified the move by calling the rules "unnecessarily intrusive," thereby scrapping Biden-era requirements that were adopted in March 2024.

"The goal of today's Commission action... is to cease the Commission's involvement in the defense of the costly and unnecessarily intrusive climate change disclosure rules," SEC Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda said in a statement.

Rules under the regulation were to be phased in over the course of 2025, requiring companies to report both direct emissions and the emissions produced by energy providers.

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Listed companies also had to report on climate-related risks and their real or potential effects on corporate strategy, business models, and forecasts.

"States and private parties have challenged the rules," said the SEC on Thursday, as it paused the regulations and ended its defense in ongoing legal litigation.

"Following today's Commission vote, SEC staff sent a letter to the court stating that the Commission withdraws its defense of the rules."

Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw, the only Democrat on the SEC, shot down the move, calling it "untenable" and "unlawful" because the regulations had been put in place after a long review process.

"In effect, the majority of the Commission is crossing their fingers and rooting for the demise of this rule, while they eat popcorn on the sidelines," she said in a statement. "The court should not take the bait."

"We are now firmly in a period of policymaking through avoidance and acquiescence, rather than policymaking through open, transparent, and public processes."