Proposed amendments to California SB253 (the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act) and SB261 (Climate-Related Financial Risk Reporting) have been published, which mainly address timing and California Air Resources Board (CARB) function.
The major proposed amendments to SB253 include:
- Giving CARB two more years until January 1, 2027 to develop implementing regulations.
- Allowing the disclosure to be submitted either to CARB directly or the emissions reporting organization established by the original law.
- Giving reporting companies two more years (until 2028) to file the first reports on Scopes 1 and 2, with Scope 3 reporting extended until 2029.
- Requiring limited assurance for Scope 1 and 2 reports starting in 2028, with reasonable assurance beginning 2032 – the same year limited assurance on Scope 3 reporting would begin.
- Allowing CARB flexibility in creating the emissions reporting organization, rather than mandating such. In lieu of the emissions reporting organization, CARB would apparently perform the designated functions.
- Clarifying that penalties assessed on scope 3 reporting between 2029 and 2032 shall only occur for nonfiling.
Proposed amendments to SB261 are limited to the same timing changes and CARB duties as above. References to Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, or any successor thereto, and the GHG protocol remain, while the use of ISSB is also allowable.
If these amendments pass, it would be another setback for mandatory GHG reporting in the US, but many of the same companies are captured under the EU CSRD – so don’t go thinking that you might be off the hook yet.
Our members can find more information about California’s climate laws here.
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