{"id":1572603,"date":"2022-07-27T06:35:40","date_gmt":"2022-07-27T10:35:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1572603"},"modified":"2022-07-27T06:35:52","modified_gmt":"2022-07-27T10:35:52","slug":"americans-likely-to-be-tracked-for-co2-emissions-under-secs-new-climate-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/americans-likely-to-be-tracked-for-co2-emissions-under-secs-new-climate-rule\/","title":{"rendered":"Americans Likely to Be Tracked for CO2 Emissions Under SEC\u2019s New Climate Rule"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Famericans-likely-to-be-tracked-for-co2-emissions-under-secs-new-climate-rule%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1572603&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Will your CO2 emissions data be collected and reported to the government in the near future? A consumer rights group said that a new rule proposed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would lay the groundwork for doing so.<\/p>\n<p>On March 21, the SEC proposed a rule titled \u201cThe Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/rules\/proposed\/2022\/33-11042.pdf\">pdf<\/a>). The nearly 500-page rule would require SEC registrants\u2014mostly public companies, investment advisers, and broker-dealers\u2014to report certain climate-related information including their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.<\/p>\n<p>The GHG emissions are categorized into three scopes. Scope 1 is the registrant\u2019s direct GHG emissions. Scope 2 is its indirect GHG emissions from purchased electricity and other forms of energy. Scope 3 is indirect emissions from upstream and downstream activities in a registrant\u2019s value chain.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cScope 3 requires these companies to estimate the carbon output of the use of their product by the consumer, which means they\u2019re going to have to go out into the field and talk to consumers,\u201d Will Hild,\u00a0executive director of Consumers\u2019 Research,\u00a0America\u2019s oldest consumer protection organization, said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ntd.com\/major-government-co2-rule-will-hurt-americans-consumer-watchdog_806814.html\">in an interview<\/a> with\u00a0NTD\u2019s \u201cFresh Look America\u201d program on July 12.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet\u2019s say you bought an internal combustion engine lawnmower. The lawn mower company will need to know how many times you mow your lawn. They\u2019re going to have to go out and ask people that and research that. And so you could see how this starts to lay the groundwork for scoring actual individual people\u2019s activities,\u201d said Hild.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s GHG\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/climateleadership\/scope-3-inventory-guidance\">inventory guidance<\/a>, Scope 3 has 15 categories such as \u201cpurchased goods and services,\u201d \u201cuse of sold products,\u201d \u201cupstream and downstream transportation and distribution,\u201d \u201cemployee commuting,\u201d and more.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do think it\u2019s a rather frightening development, especially to come out of that Securities Exchange Commission, which shouldn\u2019t be involved in any of this, to be laying the groundwork for something like that, and for having companies try and track that,\u201d said Hild.<\/p>\n<p>For example, a car company might add a tracker to the car to know the monthly mileage, said Hild.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not that outlandish to think that in order to keep themselves safe from securities plaintiffs attorneys, they\u2019re going to engage in almost levels of surveillance around the way that products are used,\u201d said Hild.\u00a0\u201cSo they can say with some level of certainty that their estimations of CO2 Scope 3 output are accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>\u2018Incredible\u2019 Burden<\/h2>\n<p>Hild said Consumers\u2019 Research opposes the rule because it would hurt individual investors and consumers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s bad for actual retail investors, people consuming investment products, funds, brokerage services, and seeking a return in the stock,\u201d said Hild.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a massive expense. It\u2019s being added to the annual reporting requirements of publicly traded companies,\u201d said Hild, noting the expense would reduce the\u00a0returns of these companies, especially small-cap companies.<\/p>\n<p>Hild said many companies looking to go public might be scared away because of the cost and go to a venture capitalist or a hedge fund for funding. That\u2019s another harm to individual investors because they would lose opportunities.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4314472\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/03\/03\/Florida-I-95-1200x800.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-4314472\" src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/03\/03\/Florida-I-95-1200x800.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Vehicles driving along the I-95 in Miami, Fla., on Jan. 10, 2022. (Joe Raedle\/Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cSo we think retail investors are hurt. But maybe more importantly, this is going to dramatically increase costs for consumers as they purchase products and services in the market,\u201d said Hild. \u201cBecause it\u2019s going to burden these companies with a regulatory burden. It\u2019s also going to try to punish them for the supposed CO2 emissions of the products that they sell.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is an incredible increase in the regulatory burden that the SEC is placing on public companies. If you add up every regulation that the SEC has ever put as far as disclosures on public companies, this is larger than the regulatory burden of all those other regulations. This is the largest thing they\u2019ve ever done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The rule would also force public companies\u2019 suppliers to provide all CO2 emissions-related information, even if they\u2019re not publicly listed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s the SEC forcing effects onto companies that are not publicly traded, which is supposed to be outside the purview of the SEC. So this is a huge increase in the SEC\u2019s effect on the markets, its effect on investors, and to reach into our daily lives,\u201d said Hild.<\/p>\n<h2>ESG Scores \u2018Similar\u2019 to China\u2019s Social Credit System<\/h2>\n<p>ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance. The ideas have become critical criteria for evaluating an enterprise\u2019s long-term environmental, social, and governance risks. Hild said the proposed rule is an ESG-style policy and ESG scores are \u201csimilar\u201d to China\u2019s social credit scores.<\/p>\n<p>China\u2019s social credit system is notorious for quickly advancing from a banking and financial credit rating tool to a\u00a0comprehensive government surveillance system.<\/p>\n<p>Institutions and companies have developed different ESG rating systems to rank companies with ESG scores. But some experts have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/are-social-credit-scores-coming-to-america_4527625.html\">warned<\/a> that personal ESG scores would soon follow.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4317674\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/shutterstock_1217886949-1200x800-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-large wp-image-4317674\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/shutterstock_1217886949-1200x800-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-4317674\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/shutterstock_1217886949-1200x800-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> (Shutterstock)<\/figure>\n<p>In December, Doug Craddock, a FICO analyst,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fico.com\/blogs\/author\/doug-craddock\">predicted<\/a> that in 2022 \u201cthere will be an increased focus on developing new data assets such as individual carbon profiles.\u201d FICO is a consumer credit rating agency.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOver the longer term, we expect that ESG and climate risk evaluations will become an integral element of credit risk and affordability assessments,\u201d added Craddock.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it is highly likely that within the next two years, you\u2019re going to see financial institutions start to use a personalized social credit score of some kind to make decisions about things like your access to loans, your interest rate, or whether you\u2019re eligible for insurance coverage,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/are-social-credit-scores-coming-to-america_4527625.html\">said<\/a> Justin Haskins, director at The Heartland Institute.<\/p>\n<p>In March, Standard &#038; Poors, one of the world\u2019s top credit rating companies, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spglobal.com\/ratings\/en\/research\/articles\/220331-esg-credit-indicator-report-card-u-s-states-and-territories-12322702\">announced<\/a> that ESG scoring would be expanded beyond company ratings to include U.S. states.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe term has no real definition,\u201d said Hild. \u201cYou can pretty much grade companies any way you want.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Polarizing Views<\/h2>\n<p>Hild said the radical left had pushed the rule.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is exclusively the domain of the progressive left, and really its most radical wing. It was pioneered by them,\u201d said Hild. \u201cIf you look at the ESG metrics and their goals, they pretty much line up entirely with what the progressive wing of the Democratic Party would want.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The SEC has received a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/comments\/s7-10-22\/s71022.htm\">significant amount of comments<\/a>\u00a0during the public comment period that ended last month. The SEC may take months to review the comments before announcing its final decision.<\/p>\n<p>Environmental groups, some government agencies, Democratic senators and House representatives, and some Democratic governors strongly support the rule. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) asked the SEC to adopt it \u201cas proposed\u201d\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/comments\/s7-10-22\/s71022-20132548-303088.pdf\">in a co-signed letter<\/a> to SEC Chair\u00a0Gary Gensler on June 17.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, dozens of GOP senators, over 100 GOP House members, and dozens of GOP governors voiced their \u201csignificant concern\u201d over the proposed rule, asking the agency to rescind the rule immediately.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis sweeping, close to 500-page proposed rule is unnecessary and inappropriate, exceeds the SEC\u2019s mission and expertise, will harm consumers, workers, and the entire U.S. economy at a time when energy prices are skyrocketing, and hijacks the democratic process in determining U.S. climate policy,\u201d 12 GOP senators led by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) said in a June 15 letter to Gensler (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/comments\/s7-10-22\/s71022-20133994-303877.pdf\">pdf<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/supreme-court-narrows-epas-ability-to-regulate-carbon-dioxide-emissions_4565239.html\">won the\u00a0West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency case<\/a> in the Supreme Court on June 30, sent in an additional comment (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/comments\/s7-10-22\/s71022-20134128-303943.pdf\">pdf<\/a>) along with 23 state attorneys general on July 13, saying the high court confirmed in the case that \u201cCongress\u2014not a federal administrative agency\u2014has the power to decide major issues of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3676013\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-976.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-large wp-image-3676013\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-976.jpeg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3676013\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-976.jpeg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey speaks at an event in Inwood, W.Va., on Oct. 22, 2018. (Win McNamee\/Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIf the Commission insists on taking the same inappropriate course, we will be ready to act once again. We urge you to save everyone years of strife by abandoning the Proposed Rule,\u201d said the attorneys general. The 24 attorneys general sent in their initial comment on June 15 (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/comments\/s7-10-22\/s71022-20131409-301574.pdf\">pdf<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>An SEC commissioner also disagrees with the rule.<\/p>\n<p>Hester Peirce, a Trump appointee and the lone Republican commissioner currently serving on the SEC, voted against the rule in March and issued a statement.\u00a0All three Democratic commissioners voted for it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet us be honest about what this proposal is really trying to do. Although styled as a disclosure rule, the goal of this proposal\u2014as with other climate disclosure efforts\u2014is to direct capital to favored businesses and to advance favored political and social goals,\u201d Peirce said in her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/news\/statement\/peirce-climate-disclosure-20220321#_ftn1\">statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The SEC hasn\u2019t responded to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p><em>Kevin Stocklin contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-li-hai\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-13-at-10.15.28-AM.jpg\" alt=\"Harry Lee\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-paul-greaney\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/FreshLook-200x200-Author.jpg\" alt=\"Paul Greaney\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Will your CO2 emissions data be collected and reported to the government in the near future? A consumer rights group said that a new rule proposed by the U.S. Securities<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1572603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1572603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1572603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1572603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1572603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1572603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1572603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}