From federal agencies to state governments, climate disclosure laws are sweeping the nation. While these laws aim for transparency, mandated climate disclosures increase costs for businesses and consumers, inhibit environmental progress, and provide marginal benefits for investors. Lawmakers should refrain from following California’s lead and instead implement policies that reduce the cost of doing business.  

Last October, California made history by passing the nation’s first climate disclosure law, which requires public and private companies whose annual revenue exceeds $1 billion to disclose the greenhouse gas emissions of their direct and indirect activities. As the fifth-largest economy in the world, and largest in the U.S., the impacts of this law will reverberate across the rest of the country.