Today’s ESG Updates
- SEC Moves to Scrap 2024 Climate Disclosure Rules: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is on track to rescind its climate disclosure rules, even as many companies keep reporting the emissions data investors have come to expect.
- Hungary’s Only Nuclear Plant Nears Shutdown as Danube Falls to Record Lows: Paks nuclear plant, which supplies nearly half of Hungary’s electricity, can no longer draw Danube water enough to cool its reactors, pushing the country toward its first full shutdown.
- EIB Backs Puglia With €150 Million for Sustainable Development: The European Investment Bank has signed the first tranche of a €2.34 billion program to upgrade water, waste, healthcare and transport infrastructure across southern Italy.
- China Nears Completion of World’s First Biodiversity Taxonomy: The People’s Bank of China is close to finalizing a rulebook classifying which bank loans count toward biodiversity goals, after piloting it across 26 provinces.
What’s at stake as SEC moves to drop climate disclosure rules
The SEC appears set to scrap the climate disclosure rules it passed in 2024. The agency, now controlled by three Republican commissioners, proposed rescinding them in May, arguing they went beyond its legal authority and cost companies too much. Public comments on the plan closed this week.
Environmental groups want the rules kept. Public Citizen and dozens of other organizations argue that climate risk to company finances keeps growing, not shrinking. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce disagrees, saying the SEC shouldn’t spread the cost of climate reporting across every public company.
The rollback might not actually change much. Companies have already spent money building emissions-tracking systems, and big investors like T. Rowe Price now demand their own climate disclosures through proxy votes, regulation or not. One compliance strategist summed it up: ‘We’ve shifted from regulators holding all the cards to investors driving the agenda.’
What worries advocacy groups more is the precedent; the SEC says these rules “exceed the scope” of its authority, an argument that could be used to block other disclosure requirements down the line.
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Hungary prepares to shut down its only nuclear plant as Danube hits record lows
Hungary is preparing to shut down its sole nuclear power plant for the first time in 44 years. The Danube’s water level has dropped so low that Paks, which normally supplies close to half the country’s electricity, can barely draw enough water to cool its reactors.
Prime Minister Peter Magyar said the country is in unfamiliar territory, with no meaningful rain forecast to raise river levels. Romania shut down two reactors last month for the same reason and declared a state of emergency over falling power output. Sections of the Danube, Europe’s second-longest river, have hit record lows this summer.
The heat wave behind the drought has also fueled wildfires in France and Greece and forced water restrictions in more than 100 Hungarian towns. Scientists attribute the pattern to Europe warming faster than any other continent. “We are in uncharted territory,” Magyar said.
Related Articles
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EU’s investment bank puts €150 million into southern Italy
The European Investment Bank is putting €150 million into Puglia, the region that forms the heel of Italy’s boot. It’s the first slice of a much bigger plan, about €2.34 billion, meant to upgrade water systems, waste management, healthcare, education and transport across the region through 2027.
The money comes from EU cohesion funds, the pot meant to help poorer regions catch up economically with the rest of the bloc. Puglia has leaned on EIB financing before, and this latest round is meant to keep that relationship going rather than start something new.
EIB Vice President Gelsomina Vigliotti framed it as continuity rather than a one-off: the bank sees itself as “a long-term partner for Puglia and Italy’s cohesion regions.” It is a modest announcement on its face, but this steady financing for water systems, hospitals and rail lines is what keeps regional infrastructure from falling behind.
China is about to get the world’s first biodiversity taxonomy
China’s central bank is close to finalizing a rulebook that tells banks exactly which projects count as good for biodiversity, and it’s already been tested in 26 provinces since last year.
The catalogue covers 87 types of activity, from wetland restoration to wind farms designed not to disturb migratory birds, each tied to specific, measurable targets. The idea is to make it easy for a loan officer, not an ecologist, to check a few boxes and know a project qualifies. Hubei province alone had 226 billion yuan (about $33 billion) in outstanding biodiversity loans by mid-2025, up 31% from the year before.
Former PBoC chief economist Ma Jun, who helped build China’s green bond market a decade ago, thinks this could follow the same path, voluntary at first, then mandatory once regulators see it works. He points out it could be “the first biodiversity taxonomy in the world.”
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by the authors are their own, not those of impakter.com — Cover Photo Credit: David Dibert
