The  California Senate last week passed SB 261 and SB 253, which would require large corporations to report their emissions. SB 253 would require companies doing business in California with annual revenues over $1 billion to report their Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions to a state board and have that information audited by a third party. These types of emissions include direct, indirect and supply chain related emissions, respectively. SB 253 is similar in many respects to new emissions reporting rules that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed at the federal level for publicly traded companies.

In addition, SB 261 would require companies doing business in California with annual revenues over $500 million to disclose material risk of financial harms due to “physical and transition risks” determined by the state’s climate change task force. Both bills will now be considered by the Assembly.