Two bills that would require climate-related disclosures from specified companies doing business in California advanced in the Legislature this week. SB 253 (Wiener) and SB 261 (Stern) passed the Senate Judiciary Committee and will advance to the Senate Appropriations Committee in advance of a floor vote. As previously reported here and here, SB 253 would mandate the disclosure of all greenhouse gas emissions—Scopes 1, 2 and 3—and SB 261 would mandate disclosure of climate-related “risks,” relative to guidance by the Task Force on Climate-Related Disclosures.

A third related bill also passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. SB 252 (Gonzalez) would bar state pension funds from investing in fossil fuel companies.

Concurrent with the California legislative proposals, we have been tracking a proposed disclosure rule by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that would apply only to publicly traded companies. As reported in the links above, the final SEC rule was expected by the end of March 2022. The final rule has yet to be released.