CARB Confirms Non‑enforcement Of SB 261 Deadline And Details Voluntary Docket Process

As many were settling back into work after the Thanksgiving holiday, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) published an Enforcement Advisory and opened up its public docket for voluntary submissions of SB 261 climate risk disclosures. These developments are further discussed in this post.

The Climate‐Related Financial Risk Act (Senate Bill 261/Health & Safety Code Section 38533) requires biennial disclosure of climate-related financial risks in accordance with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures framework or an equivalent requirement, as well as the measures adopted to reduce and adapt to the disclosed climate-related financial risks. Disclosures are required by US-organized entities doing business in California with total annual revenues exceeding $500 million in the prior fiscal year. The statute requires the first disclosures by the beginning of 2026. 

SB 261 Enforcement Advisory

In mid-November, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals published an order preliminarily enjoining the enforcement of SB 261 pending an ongoing appeal being considered by the court. That order is further discussed in this  post.

Yesterday's short  Enforcement Advisory indicates that, in light of the Ninth Circuit's preliminary injunction pending appeal, CARB will not enforce SB 261 against covered entities for failing to post and submit SB 261 climate-related financial risk reports by the January 1, 2026 statutory deadline. CARB indicated that it will provide further information – including an alternate date for reporting, as appropriate – after the appeal is resolved. Nothing in the Enforcement Advisory comes as a surprise, but it is nevertheless welcome confirmation from CARB. 

SB 261 Public Docket

Over the summer, CARB indicated that it would be establishing a public docket for companies to post the link to their SB 261 report. CARB had indicated that the docket would go online on December 1 and be kept open until July 1, 2026. CARB also indicated that posting to the public docket would be mandatory and further addressed in CARB's proposed regulations. The public docket is further discussed in our earlier posts  here and  here.

CARB opened the  public docket yesterday – on schedule – for entities that want to voluntarily (at least for now) submit an SB 261 report.

Entities choosing to voluntarily submit their reports are asked to include a company statement on official letterhead using the file naming convention “CompanyName_Statement_date.” CARB also requested that entities submitting a consolidated report list the included subsidiaries. 

In addition, CARB indicated that the report should be posted on the company's website and publicly accessible. Entities can submit a link to the website containing the report in the “Message” field on the public docket submittal page. 

In addition to mandatory Message and Subject fields, submissions to the public docket require the name and email address of the submitter. Phone number and affiliation are optional. The docket allows up to ten files to be uploaded, with a 200 MB limit.

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