California climate reporting bills

In 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act and Greenhouse gases: climate-related financial risk, which create new climate reporting requirements for both private and public companies.

Then, on September 27, 2024, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Greenhouse gases: climate corporate accountability: climate-related financial risk, which updates certain provisions outlined in the two 2023 bills, including the following amendments:

• Extends the deadline from January 1, 2025 to July 1, 2025 for the California State Air Resources Board to develop and adopt the greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting regulations (without changing the reporting date for reporting entities).
• Requires a “reporting entity,” as defined, to disclose scope 3 GHG emissions on a schedule specified by the California State Air Resources Board instead of 180 days after the disclosure of scope 1 and scope 2 GHG emissions.
• Clarifies that a subsidiary qualifying on its own as a reporting entity, based on revenue and doing business in California, is not required to prepare a separate report for the purposes of reporting GHG emissions.
• Stipulates that a reporting entity is no longer required to pay the fee established by the California State Air Resources Board when filing its GHG emissions/climate-related financial risk report.

Snapshot 2023-11 , as subsequently updated, summarizes the key tenets of California’s three climate reporting rules and features answers to frequently asked questions as well as insights from Grant Thornton’s Environmental Social and Governance professionals.