New Report Shows Securities and Exchange Commission Planned Climate Rules Will Accelerate Systemic Financial and Economic Risk

Washington, D.C. – Today, National Center for Energy Analytics (NCEA) Advisor and Senior Fellow Paul H. Tice published an in-depth report evaluating the impact on U.S. financial markets from the planned climate rules from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Tice reveals enormous added regulatory burdens, increased dependence on foreign energy markets, and less diverse, riskier, and more volatile financial markets.

Terrence Keeley, NCEA Advisor, chairman of 1PointSix LLC and the Impact Evaluation Lab, and former managing director at BlackRock, said about the report: “Environmentalists know they cannot get their policies through the front door—i.e., by an act of Congress—so they keep trying the back door, namely unaccountable regulatory agencies. Paul Tice knows an undemocratic act when he sees it, and aptly calls it out.”

Steven Koonin, another NCEA Advisor, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and former Undersecretary for Science of the Department of Energy in the Obama administration, observed: “Tice provides an enlightening account of disclosure rules, an insidious form of ‘climate action.’ His study is essential reading for anyone advocating informed energy and emissions policies.”

Tice’s study analyzes the SEC climate rules issued in March 2024, which are currently under judicial review, demonstrating the agency exceeds its mandate—climate policy is the purview of Congress. The rules are aimed at drastically restricting the market demand for, and supply of, fossil fuels—which will expose the country to crippling economic risks. The report also emphasizes how the rules will disadvantage the U.S. with respect to developing countries committed to increasing fossil fuel consumption in the pursuit of economic growth.

Mark P. Mills, Executive Director of NCEA, added, “It’s critical that policymakers consider the economic and financial realities detailed in Tice’s analysis before these rules take effect.”

The report, “The SEC’s Climate Rules Will Wreak Havoc on U.S. Financial Markets,” is available for download on our website.