WHAT IS HAPPENING: In March 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a rule that would require public companies to include climate-related disclosures in their financial statements. Notably, the rule would necessitate the disclosure of the public companies’ “Scope 3” emissions, indirect emissions from upstream and downstream activities in their supply chains.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU?

The rule applies throughout a publicly traded company’s value chain, burdening all agricultural producers, particularly small and mid-sized farm operations.

The Scope 3 emissions reporting requirement could impact most farms since a majority of agricultural products are used or sold by a publicly traded company.

98% of all farms in the U.S., like yours, are independent, family operations that do not have the resources to track and report the emissions data necessary to meet the disclosure requirements. The increased production costs and difficulty in supplying emissions data to public companies will hinder your ability to compete in global markets and will encourage further market consolidation and vertically integrated supply chains.

Two bills (S. 391 and H.R. 1018) have been introduced in Congress to relieve farmers and ranchers from the Scope 3 emissions reporting requirement.

WHAT THESE BILLS DO:

• The bills prohibit the SEC from requiring an issuer of securities to disclose greenhouse gas emissions from upstream and downstream activities in the issuer’s value chain arising from a farm.
• The bills define the production, manufacturing, or harvesting of an agricultural product through the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, outlines upstream and downstream activities, and defines greenhouse gases.
• The bills remove the SEC’s exemptive authority in relation to this act.

OUR ASK: Write to your lawmaker today and tell them to support S. 391 and H.R. 1018!

LEARN MORE :https://www.fb.org/market-intel/overreach-of-sec-proposed-climate-rule-could-hurt-agriculture

INSTRUCTIONS FOR YOUR MESSAGE:

Complete your information in the boxes below to send a message to your lawmakers.

Please consider PERSONALIZING YOUR MESSAGE by mentioning your hometown, for example, and telling your lawmaker how gargantuan the task of tracking and reporting emissions data would be.

Then click “SEND EMAIL” to send your email.