UEP joined with 117 national and state agricultural groups in a letter asking for a 180-day extension of the comment period on a recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed rule published in the Federal Register on April 11. The rule requires all publicly traded companies, any company issuing stock for sale in the public U.S. capital markets, to report their company’s greenhouse gas (GHG) performance. In some instances, companies must also report the GHG data from companies in their supply chain. Comments are due on May 20. The letter requests that the comment period be extended to November 16.

Under the SEC’s proposed rule, a publicly traded company must report its:

• GHG emissions (called “Scope 1” emissions)
• Any emissions that come from the production of the energy the company uses in their operations (called “Scope 2” emissions)
• Any emissions from its entire supply chain (“Scope 3” emissions) if those emissions represent a material risk to the company’s performance or if the company has set Scope 3 GHG emissions reduction targets for its supply chain.

Who is covered?

• Any operations, including agricultural operations that are publicly traded
• Possibly any agricultural operation that sells to or buys from a publicly traded company

The fact that any agricultural operation could be required to report GHG data or be subject to litigation against a public company that makes Scope 3 claims is why UEP and the other agricultural groups want time to evaluate this proposal and comment properly. Given that this rule is 510 pages in length, contains 1068 technical footnotes, and poses nearly 750 direct questions, it is reasonable to ask for more time to properly review, analyze, digest and comment on the proposal. Regardless of the deadline, UEP will be commenting on the rule by the applicable date. Please contact Tom Hebert, tom.hebert@bayardridge.com, with questions or comments.