On October 12, 2026, the California Office of Administrative Law (OAL) approved the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) California Corporate Greenhouse Gas Reporting and Climate-Related Financial Risk Disclosure Initial Regulation, codified at Title 17, California Code of Regulations, sections 96070-96077 (the Initial Regulation). The Initial Regulation took effect the same day. It implements the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (SB 253), establishes the program’s fee component and sets the first-year reporting deadline under Health and Safety Code section 38532. As we previously reported, CARB withdrew an earlier version of the regulation from OAL review in late June and issued modifications for a 15-day public comment period. With OAL’s approval, the Initial Regulation is now final and in effect.
With the Initial Regulation in effect, reporting entities have less than four weeks before the November 10, 2026, deadline to report Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions for their prior fiscal year. SB 253 applies to US-based companies that do business in California and have more than $1 billion in total annual revenue assessed at the entity level. Scope 3 emissions reporting is not required in 2026. To streamline first-year reporting, CARB has created a voluntary 2026 Report Intake Platform. Companies can use it to provide contact information and submit Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions reports. Its use is optional, and companies may instead email their reports and contact information to [email protected].
Companies should assess the law’s applicability now. They also should decide which of the reporting formats CARB will accept for 2026 they plan to use. As we discussed in our September 17 update, companies that possessed or were collecting Scope 1 and Scope 2 data on or before December 5, 2024, may submit an existing annual report, an existing report prepared for another program or voluntary initiative, or CARB’s template. Companies that did not possess and were not collecting Scope 1 or Scope 2 data by December 5, 2024, may instead submit a statement on company letterhead explaining that they are not submitting a report for that reason.
The WilmerHale team will continue to monitor CARB’s implementation of SB 253 and provide further updates.
