(Bloomberg) — The California Assembly passed legislation Monday that would require large corporations to disclose their direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions, marking the most sweeping effort to date by a state to track the climate impact of business.
(Bloomberg) — The California Assembly passed legislation Monday that would require large corporations to disclose their direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions, marking the most sweeping effort to date by a state to track the climate impact of business.
Under the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, which must still be approved by the state Senate and Gov. Gavin Newsom, public and private businesses that operate in California and make more than $1 billion annually would need to report their greenhouse gas emissions, including scope 3 releases, from their supply chains. That would affect more than 5,300 companies, according to Ceres, a nonprofit supporting the bill.
The scope of California’s bill goes beyond a long-anticipated climate rule that’s being finalized by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, that would require similar disclosures but only from publicly traded companies. Both measures have been criticized as burdensome and expensive for companies. At the same time, some of California’s biggest employers have supported the state bill including Apple Inc. and Salesforce Inc.
Under California’s bill, the state’s Air Resources Board must adopt emissions reporting regulations by Jan. 1, 2025, and companies must publicly disclose scope 1 and 2 emissions starting in 2026, and scope 3 emissions in 2027. Independent auditors would be required to verify the reports.
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