(Sacramento) Large companies, from oil and gas companies to retail giants, will have to disclose their direct greenhouse gas emissions as well as those from activities such as employee business travel , under a law passed Monday by California lawmakers, the most sweeping of its kind in the nation.
The law would require thousands of public and private companies operating in California and making more than $1 billion a year to report their direct and indirect emissions. The aim is to increase transparency and encourage companies to assess how they can reduce their emissions.
“We are running out of time to deal with the climate crisis,” said Democratic Assemblymember Chris Ward. This will absolutely help us take a step forward in being able to hold ourselves accountable. »
The legislation was one of the highest-profile climate bills in California this year, drawing support from major companies including Patagonia and Apple, as well as Christiana Figueres, former executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention. origin of the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
Lawmakers who support the bill say many of the state’s companies already disclose some of their own emissions. But the bill is a controversial proposal that many other businesses and groups in the state oppose and say are too burdensome.
If the Senate gives final approval to the bill, it will head to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who declined to share his position on the bill when asked last month. The Finance Department objected in July, saying it would likely cost the state money not included in the latest budget.
Mr. Newsom advanced California’s role as a climate policy pioneer by moving the state away from gasoline-powered vehicles and expanding wind and solar power. By 2030, the state has set a goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 40% compared to what they were in 1990.
About 17 states, including California, have inventories requiring large polluters to disclose their emissions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. California’s climate disclosure bill would be different because of all the indirect emissions companies would have to report.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed rules that would require public companies to disclose their emissions, up and down the supply chain. But the California bill would go further by requiring public and private companies to report their direct and indirect emissions.
The legislation would require large companies to disclose their own greenhouse gas emissions and emissions indirectly from sources such as employee business travel, product transportation and waste disposal. For example, a large retailer would have to report emissions from the power supply of its own buildings, as well as those from the delivery of products from warehouses to stores.
Opponents of the bill say it is not possible to accurately account for all mandatory emissions from sources beyond those for which companies are directly responsible.
A similar proposal introduced last year passed the state Senate but failed in the Assembly. State Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat who introduced the bill the following two years, said the bill’s supporters built a stronger coalition this year to achieve better results.
A key state Assembly committee blocked legislation earlier this year that would have accelerated the state’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction timeline. Lawmakers are also mulling a bill that would require companies making more than $500 million to disclose the financial consequences of climate change.
