On October 7, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom enacted two expansive climate disclosure laws – Senate Bill 253 (SB 253), the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, and Senate Bill 261 (SB 261), the Climate-Related Risk Act.
The two bills not only overlap with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed climate disclosure rule but also enlarge upon it in several substantial ways. The Commission’s proposed rule is mainly concerned with greenhouse gas (GHG).
These developments represent significant expansions of climate-related disclosure requirements. Their impact extends not just to businesses based in California, but potentially to any company doing business in the state or even just holding assets there. This also seems likely to set a new standard for progress that could be utilized by other states, the federal government, and foreign nations alike.
To better understand these amendments and prepare for their impact, legal professionals should review the key components of these laws. These include new necessities for publishers to reveal direct or indirect GHG emissions, climate-related hazards that may influence their business or assets, how those hazards are integrated into their risk management program, their resiliency strategies to deal with intense weather or climatic changes, and their targets for alleviating GHG emissions.
For more information on the nuances of SB 253 and SB 261, please refer to the full article titled “Change is in the Air: Everything You Need to Know About California’s Sweeping New Climate Disclosure Laws,” available at jdsupra.