Companies listed on US stock exchanges — including Canadian ones — are pushing back on new Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) rules for disclosing carbon emissions in a move backed by the Biden Administration as it poises to spend hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure spending.

The new rules, which were first proposed last summer but delayed, would force companies to disclose more information on so-called ‘Scope 3’ emissions, which are defined as indirect emissions that stem from everything from employee commuting, waste disposal, business travel and even purchased goods and services.

According to the Washington Post, the new rules affect everything from pizza deliveries to financial services in addition to the typical huff and puff smokestack industries.

It’s being pushed by the US government, which according to the Brookings Institute, spends about $655 billion a year in goods and services making it by far the largest outside contractor in the country. It’s also being advocated by climate activists who are threatening legal action to force the issue.