Earlier this month, Governor Newsom announced his support of a sweeping climate bill enacted by the California legislature that would compel major companies operating in California to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, companies with over $1 billion in revenue--whether public or private companies--that "do business" in California would have to disclose Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 GHG emissions. (While many companies already disclose Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, which are direct emissions and indirect emissions from the consumption of power, respectively, Scope 3 emissions--which include the direct and indirect emissions of suppliers and customers--are significantly more difficult to calculate, and few companies disclose such figures.) Additionally, it is highly likely that this move by California will impact the pending federal climate disclosure regulations propounded by the SEC. As an initial matter, this legislation goes beyond the SEC's proposed climate disclosures, as it will apply to private as well as public companies.

Source: New York Times September 30, 2023 02:05 UTC