There is no valid rationale for the California state government’s decision to delay compulsory climate reporting, and the original timeline should be reinstated, Carbon Accountable has argued in a new report. California had originally planned to require reporting of greenhouse gas emissions from 2026 under the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (CA SB 253). The law requires companies with over US$1 billion in revenue that do business in California to report their Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. But in June this year, Governor Gavin Newsom proposed amending the legislation to delay roll-out by two years, claiming the original deadlines were “likely infeasible”. In the report, Carbon Accountable – a data policy initiative that played a key role in designing CA SB 253 – detailed how the original timeline could be achieved. Commitment to simplicity, transparency, and a limited compliance burden, would all make the original rollout “eminently achievable”, it said. “This report clearly shows that the governor’s office – with its request for a two-year delay for implementing the law – grossly overstates the work required by the ARB [Air Resources Board] to develop the necessary regulations and prepare for timely reporting,” said Catherine Atkin, Co-founder of Carbon Accountable and lead author of the report. “We are out of time, we have to move with the urgency that the climate crisis demands.”
