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On December 16, 2024, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) requested public feedback to “help inform its work to implement” the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (SB 253) and the Climate-Related Financial Risk Act (SB 261) (see our summary of these 2023 laws here). The “information solicitation” was issued shortly after California State Senator Scott Wiener and Senator Henry Stern, who authored the bills, penned a letter to CARB expressing their frustration with CARB’s apparent lack of momentum in advance of a July 2025 statutory deadline to adopt regulations governing the greenhouse gas (GHG) and climate risk disclosures that large entities “doing business in California” must make beginning in 2026. CARB is accepting comments in response to the solicitation for 60 days, through February 14, 2025.

On December 5, 2024, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) issued an Enforcement Notice regarding the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (SB 253), which will require companies “doing business” in California to report their Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), with reporting for 2025 Scope 1 and 2 emissions beginning in 2026 (see our previous discussion of the law’s requirements here).

What Happened

On Monday, October 14, 2024, the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) opened a public comment period on changes to the previously proposed regulations implementing the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act (Act). The 15-day written comment period runs through Tuesday, October 29, 2024.…

The march toward mandated corporate disclosures for climate-related risks continues. Despite significant pushback and substantial legal challenges, state legislatures and regulators are continuing to advance laws and rules that will require disclosures of both greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate risks.

California Senate Bill (SB) 219, signed into law…

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued its long-awaited climate reporting requirements, making it mandatory for the largest publicly traded companies in the U.S. to annually disclose both greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and their material climate risks, with some requirements kicking in as early as 2025. On March 6, the SEC voted 3-2 along party lines to pass a pared down version of its March 2022 proposal, giving regulated companies the final word on the much-anticipated rule.

On October 7, 2023, California Governor Newsom signed two landmark bills into law, Senate Bill (SB) 253 and SB-261, imposing new requirements on large companies doing business in California to publicly report their annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate-related risks. These laws apply to both publicly traded and privately held companies, exceeding the scope of the climate disclosure rule proposed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in March 2022. Our professionals have prepared a more detailed summary here; some key highlights are included below.

On January 9, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) issued an Interim Guidance on Consideration of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions and Climate Change (Interim Guidance) “to assist Federal agencies in their consideration of the effects of GHG emissions and climate change when evaluating proposed major Federal actions in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).”

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) published proposed rules on March 21 that, for the first time, would codify the Commission’s expectations regarding what kinds of climate-related disclosures public companies must make in their required filings to the SEC. Prior to now, companies have had to rely on 2010 guidance from the Commission to determine what information they should disclose to investors regarding their climate-related risks.

The financial world appears to be reeling from the recent board of director election held by Exxon Mobil Corp. (Exxon) in which activist Hedge Fund Engine 1 (Engine 1) garnered enough votes to seat two directors (Kaisa Hietala and Gregory Goff), and potentially more, as the vote count continues. In the grand scheme of things, eight of Exxon’s nominees, including CEO Darren Woods, were re-elected to the 12-member board, and yet still, Engine 1 placing directors while sporting $50 million in holdings among over a $250 billion market cap for Exxon is worthy of note. The efforts of Engine 1 were aided by other large shareholders, such as BlackRock, Inc., Exxon’s second largest shareholder. The debate around the dissident directors centered on climate change issues.

On the heels of multiple recent indications that it plans to increase its focus on environmental, social, and governance-related (ESG) corporate disclosures, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) has solicited help from the public on developing a framework for climate change disclosures. Acting Chair Allison Herren Lee released a statement on March 15, calling for input from investors, registrants, and other market participants “in light of demand for climate change information and questions about whether current disclosures accurately inform investors.”