The Supreme Court recently agreed to hear an appeal of the D.C. Circuit's decision to strike down Trump-era restrictions--which were quite weak--on coal-burning power plants. The Court's ruling here may limit the ability of the EPA under Biden to issue stringent regulations of carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act.
Should the Supreme Court so limit the authority and power of the EPA, that may encourage the Biden Administration to focus on other means of achieving its goals in combatting climate change. One of these alternatives is the regime of climate-related disclosures that the SEC has announced it will soon promulgate. That new system of climate disclosures, focused on the financial system rather than direct regulation of emissions, may soon become the centerpiece of efforts to implement the Biden Administration's climate agenda.
The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to hear appeals from Republican-led states and coal companies asking it to limit the Environmental Protection Agency's power to regulate carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act. "This is the equivalent of an earthquake around the country for those who care deeply about the climate issue," said Richard J. Lazarus, a law professor at Harvard.
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