On May 29, 2025, The California Air Resources Board (CARB) held a virtual workshop to “support the development of California’s Corporate Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program” reflected in the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (SB 253) and the Climate-Related Financial Risk Act (SB 261) (each bill as amended by Senate Bill 219). 

As a reminder, SB 253 requires U.S. companies doing business in California with total annual revenues exceeding $1 billion to publicly report their greenhouse gas emissions, beginning in 2026 with respect to Scopes 1 and 2 emissions for fiscal year 2025. SB 261 requires U.S. companies doing business in California with total annual revenues exceeding $500 million to biennially report on climate-related financial risk, with the first report due on or before January 1, 2026. SB 219, among other things, extended the deadline for CARB to adopt implementing regulations for SB 253 from January 1, 2025, to July 1, 2025.

Over 3,000 people from five continents attended the workshop. California state Senators Scott Wiener and Henry Stern, the sponsors of the legislation, began the webinar by confirming that, despite speculation in the media, the reporting requirements under SB 253 and SB 261 will not be delayed. Despite multiple inquiries, CARB would not provide details on exactly when in 2026 the first emission reports will be due under SB 253.

Notwithstanding the looming deadlines, it became clear during the workshop that regulations for SB 253 are still a long way off. CARB indicated during the workshop that it is working to develop regulations by the end of this year. When asked about the July 1, 2025, deadline imposed by SB 219, CARB would not directly respond to what, if any, guidance (formal or informal) it was prepared to deliver by that deadline or whether there were any plans to amend the legislation to push out this deadline. CARB did indicate that it plans to hold additional workshops and hinted that there may be at least partial guidance released prior to the end of the year.

CARB also made clear that once the initial proposed regulations are published, it will have one year to complete the final regulations. This includes a 45-day comment period and, if amendments are adopted, a second comment period will run for 15 days. So, it is unlikely that we will have final regulations for SB 253 until sometime (probably late) in 2026.

Although CARB is not specifically required to adopt disclosure regulations under SB 261, an open question the agency is still considering is whether it will issue implementing regulations for SB 261 or less formal guidance. 

Another open question relates to the content of the report required by SB 261. Despite multiple inquiries, it became clear that CARB is still considering this. As a reminder, SB 261 requires in-scope companies to prepare their report in accordance with the recommended framework and disclosures contained in the June 2017 Final Report of Recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), or any successor thereto, or pursuant to an equivalent reporting requirement. The recommendations of the TCFD are structured around four thematic areas that represent core elements of how organizations operate: governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics and targets. The text of SB 261 does not, however, address which of these topics must be addressed in the SB 261 report and there is overlap between the metrics and targets pillar of TCFD (which requires disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions) and SB 253, which still needs to be resolved. While we assume that emissions data will not be required to be included in the SB 261 report, since it is specifically required to be reported under SB 253, which imposes a higher in-scope threshold of $1 billion in revenue compared to the $500 million in revenue threshold for SB 261, this remains an open question.

As we previously reported CARB issued an enforcement notice last December, which states that it will exercise enforcement discretion for the first reporting year (i.e., 2026), on the condition that entities demonstrate “good faith efforts” to comply with the requirements of the law. This may offer companies some comfort, although what constitutes “good faith efforts” is still not entirely known. CARB was specifically asked about this during the workshop, but declined to provide any further guidance.

Aside from these questions, CARB said it is continuing to seek input from the public on how to shape future regulatory development of SB 253 and 261, including input on the following topics:

• How to define “doing business in California,” whether Sections 23101(a) and 23101(b) of the California Revenue and Tax Code are too broad, and whether CARB should create exemptions for particular business sectors
• How to define “total annual revenues”
• How to address how “doing business in California” and “total annual revenues” will apply to parent and subsidiary entities

We will continue to monitor developments in this area and how the rulemaking proceeds.