California Governor Newsom will sign emissions reporting bill

California Governor Gavin Newsom says he will sign a bill that will require large businesses to account for their carbon emissions, including their scope 3 or supply chain emissions.

State lawmakers passed the bill, SB253, last week. It will require businesses in California that earn over a billion dollars a year in revenue to publicly declare their greenhouse gas emissions.

“That’s over 5,300 businesses, so it’s not insignificant, and of course they are multi-nationals and some of the most well-known businesses in the world,” Newsom said.

The law will make California the first location in the U.S. to require corporate carbon accounting and comes as the Securities and Exchange Commission considers how to regulate corporate climate disclosures. The SEC has so far not said whether it will include scope 3 emissions, which come from a company’s suppliers and generally are the largest contributor. (Scope 1 emissions come directly from a company’s operations and scope 2 measures emissions from purchased electricity, heat, and other sources of energy.)

Newsom said he would sign SB253 and touted the state’s leadership in climate issues at a Climate Week event in New York City on Sunday.

“We talk about California, it’s not just a state of dreamers and doers of entrepreneurs and innovators, but it’s a state that’s long prided itself on being on a leading and cutting edge. The future happens in California first,” said Newsom.

For example, California has led the nation in regulating tailpipe emissions and implementing low-carbon feel standards, Newsom said.

Newsom thanked large businesses in the state, like Apple and Salesforce, which voiced their support for the climate disclosure regulations. “They see where the puck is going, they are going to do the right thing and support it,” Newsom said.

Newsom added a “modest caveat” that before signing the bill, his office needed to “clean up” some of the language in the bill.