What the proposed rule would mean for registrants and their filings with the SEC.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed climate disclosure rule, approved by a 3–1 vote on March 21, 2022, is the agency’s most significant regulatory undertaking in more than a decade. In the year leading up to its issuance, the SEC repeatedly emphasized the need to respond to growing demand from investors for standardized climate-related metrics and reporting and the agency’s goal of facilitating the disclosure of “consistent,” “comparable,” and “decision-useful” information. With the issuance of the proposed rule, the agency delivered on these statements and then some.