California Air Resources Board Announces New Public Meeting on SB 253 Reporting

The California Air Resources Board announced yesterday afternoon that it will hold another public workshop to support the development of California’s Corporate Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (SB 253). That meeting (including the registration link) and other information from the announcement are discussed in this post.

SB 253 is more formally known as the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (California Health & Safety Code Section 38532). It requires annual public disclosure of Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions by US-organized entities doing business in California with total annual revenues exceeding $1 billion. SB 253 is further discussed in numerous Ropes & Gray posts available here. Also see this recent post in which we share our observations for this reporting cycle.

The workshop will be held remotely on July 21 at 9:30 a.m., Pacific Time. At the workshop, CARB staff will provide an update on regulatory concepts for Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions reporting requirements for 2027 and beyond, including data assurance. Staff will also discuss CARB’s proposed approach for Scope 3 emissions reporting beginning in 2027. These topics were previously discussed at CARB’s March 23 workshop, which is summarized in this Ropes & Gray post.

Workshop materials for the July 21 meeting will be posted to the CARB webpage the day before the meeting.

The link to the workshop announcement, with registration information, is available here.

In the meeting announcement, CARB also briefly discussed the status of its initial fee regulation approved by the CARB board on February 26. The initial regulation and associated rulemaking documents were submitted to the California Office of Administrative Law for final review and approval but subsequently withdrawn by CARB to allow more time to make limited changes to clarify certain requirements. CARB has indicated it will make these changes available for comment as part of a 15-day public comment period and will subsequently re-submit the regulation to OAL. Notice of the 15-day public comment period will be forthcoming. The initial regulation is not part of the July 21 workshop, which concerns a subsequent rulemaking. 

In connection with its plan to revise and resubmit the initial regulation, CARB indicated that it will be proposing a three-month pushback of this year’s deadline for reporting Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions under SB 253, to November 10, as discussed in this Ropes & Gray post.

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