The Securities and Exchange Commission omitted the Scope 3 reporting requirement from its final climate disclosure rule. Scope 3 would have required public companies to report the greenhouse gas emissions from their supply chains and affected family farms and ranches.
“Farmers are protecting the natural resources they’ve been entrusted with and continue advancing climate-smart agriculture,” says Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall. “However, they can’t afford to hire compliance officers just to handle SEC reporting requirements.”
International Dairy Foods Association President Michael Dykes says it would have placed a significant financial burden on millions of companies outside of SEC jurisdiction. “The proposed rule demonstrated a lack of engagement with the dairy value chain and a lack of analysis on the actual impact of the rule on privately held small entities,” he says. Some companies have said they will still require the emissions information from producers because investors, consumers, and other governments demand it.