Milbank LLP Global Project, Energy and Infrastructure Finance partner Allan Marks and head of the firm’s Environmental Practice Area Matthew Ahrens, along with Environmental associate Allison Sloto, co-authored an article titled “The California Effect: Visionary Climate Disclosure Laws Will Have Far-reaching Impact” for the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance.
The article discusses two recent climate disclosure bills, SB253 (The Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act) and SB261 (The Climate-Related Financial Risk Act), which require major corporations doing business in California to disclose their greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions and certain other climate-related risk data.
The authors explain how SB253, the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, requires entities with annual revenues in excess of $1 billion that do business in California to disclose certain GHG emissions for the prior year to an emissions reporting organization. The authors also discuss how SB261, the Climate-Related Financial Risk Act, requires companies with annual revenues in excess of $500 million that do business in California to publish a publicly available report that discloses climate-related financial risks in accordance with the Final Report Recommendations of the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures and the measures the company is taking to mitigate those risks.
The push for climate-related disclosures is growing globally. “Despite… uncertainties, the rising tide of governmental requirements for climate-related reporting cannot be denied. With the tight timeline of beginning to report Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions under SB253 and publishing a report on climate-related disclosures under SB261 beginning in 2026, US companies doing business in California should not wait for the California Air Resources Board’s rulemakings to begin preparing for compliance with the laws,” the authors note.
Read the full article “The California Effect: Visionary Climate Disclosure Laws Will Have Far-reaching Impact” here.
November 13, 2023
