Gavin Newsom, the Governor of California, has proposed amendments to the state’s climate laws that would postpone their implementation by two years. Signed into law last October, Senate Bill (SB) 253 and 261 will require companies in California to disclose their Scopes 1 to 3 emissions and exposures to climate-related financial risks. Newsom’s proposed amendments, however, would delay reporting on Scopes 1 and 2 until 2028, and Scope 3 until 2029. They would also give the California Air Resources Board (CARB) more flexibility in creating the rules and phasing in Scope 3 reporting. “The implementation deadlines in this bill are likely infeasible, and the reporting protocol specified could result in inconsistent reporting across businesses subject to the measure,” said Newsom in a public message. “I am directing my administration to work with the bill’s author and the legislature next year to address these issues [and] look forward to working […] on these modifications to ensure we achieve this bill’s goals.” The California climate disclosure rules are generally considered more stringent than the reporting requirements developed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which were subject to multiple delays and are now on hold pending multiple lawsuits challenging them.
