By Clark Mindock

(Reuters) - A group of nine Republican-led states will file a lawsuit challenging new U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules that require U.S.-listed companies to report climate-related risks, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said on Wednesday just hours after the rules were approved by the agency.

   Morrisey said the states would file a petition later on Wednesday in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the rules, which aim to standardize climate-related company disclosures about greenhouse gas emissions, weather-related risks and how they are preparing for the transition to a low-carbon economy.

   The agency, Wall Street’s top regulator, had said that the information would give investors reliable information about the financial risks posed by climate change to companies.

(Reporting by Clark Mindock, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi)