The Promise and Peril of State Corporate Climate Disclosure Laws

April 2024
Citation:
54
ELR 10293
Issue
4
Author
Anne E. Kettler

On October 7, 2023, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the most far-reaching corporate climate disclosure (CCD) requirements in the United States. This so-called California Climate Accountability Package consists of the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (Senate Bill (SB) 253), which requires certain companies to disclose greenhouse gas emission data, and the Climate-Related Financial Risk Act (SB 261), which requires certain companies to disclose climate-related financial risks. This Comment provides background information on SB 253 and SB 261, discusses the inadequate CCD regime in the United States, and explains the benefits of state CCD mandates for both increasing corporate transparency and enhancing climate policy. It also analyzes SB 253 and SB 261 under modern First Amendment doctrine, and argues that these laws should not be invalidated on First Amendment grounds. It further contends that even if they are struck down, SB 253 and SB 261 may nevertheless succeed in increasing CCDs.

Anne Kettler is a 2024 J.D. candidate at Georgetown University Law Center and Editor-in-Chief of the Georgetown Environmental Law Review, Volume 36.

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The Promise and Peril of State Corporate Climate Disclosure Laws

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