The California Legislature this week passed two climate accountability bills, Senate Bill 253, the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (SB 253), and Senate Bill 261, Greenhouse gases: climate-related financial risk (SB 261).
The bills — backed by Bill McKibben, the founder of Third Act — are now headed to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk to sign or veto by October 14.
SB 253 (Wiener) requires companies with revenues exceeding $1 billion to report all of their associated emissions, including "Scope 3" emissions, from products that are sold and used by consumers (think about Exxon's gas stations).
SB 261 (Stern) requires companies doing more than $500 million ($500,000,000) in annual revenue to disclose their risk according to global disclosure standards. This information, made public biennially, will inform investors around the country and the world about the prudence of investing in banks and companies contributing to climate chaos.
Third Act Sacramento applauded the passage of the two bills and urged people to call on the Governor today to sign them.
In an action alert today, the group urged, “We did it!! You helped get SB 253 and SB 261 through the Legislature! We now need you to take one last action. Call on the Governor today to sign them—(916) 445-2841.”
See the letter below (and also sign the petition) from Bill McKibben explaining the potentially huge impact these bills could have:
From Bill McKibben:
Urge Governor Newsom to sign SB 253 & SB 261 to force big companies to fully disclose their climate emissions and financial risks
Dear Friends —
Here’s an ask that needs a rapid response today: we need Third Actors across California to sign this petition to Governor Newsom about two somewhat obscure pieces of legislation you may not know about, together known as the Climate Accountability Package. I know there's a lot going on, but this is big, and we need your help.
California has the 5th largest economy in the world, meaning that any law passed here has not only national but also global ramifications. And these two laws—SB 253 (Wiener) and SB 261 (Stern)—are so important because they will force big companies that do business in California to stop greenwashing and report publicly on their climate emissions and climate-related financial risks.
In fact, if Governor Newsom signs them, it would turbocharge our campaign to stop the banks from funding fossil fuel expansion. In particular, SB 253 would force big companies to fully disclose all of their emissions, including the “Scope 3 emissions” from their supply chains.
This means that Apple, say, would have to disclose all the emissions that come from its bank service providers—i.e., the emissions that stem from leaving its money on deposit in banks that lend it out for dirty pipelines, fracking, and oil drilling. The best estimate from The Carbon Bankroll report is that disclosing the emissions associated with their cash in banks ups their total carbon footprint by…64%. Anyway, companies like Apple—which has pledged to go net zero by 2030—would then go to work pressing Citi and Chase and the rest to do the right thing. Otherwise Apple has to report all this pollution that stems from its banks' funding of dirty fossil fuel projects.
Governor Newsom is heading to “Climate Week” in New York and has said that he will make a big public announcement about climate this Sunday. As a Californian, please sign the petition today—and add your personal comment. We are also asking Third Actors across the country to sign, given that Governor Newsom is a national figure with national ambitions and this law is of national importance.
Our partner California Climate Action will deliver our thousands and thousands of signatures to Governor Newsom before he leaves the state so that he knows his constituents and the whole country are watching him. We want to make sure that the Governor includes in his Sunday announcement that he will sign these two game-changing climate bills.
When you add your personal comment on the petition, perhaps tell Governor Newsom that you admire his past work on climate issues, but that this may be the largest step of all. And tell him you know that the American Petroleum Institute and the Chamber of Commerce are pressuring him to do the wrong thing, but that he shouldn’t fear because the rest of us have his back.
Thanks for your speed—this is a huge opportunity! The three Third Act California Working Groups—Sacramento, SF Bay Area, and SoCal—have been doing a bang-up job that helped these bills pass the legislature, but they need our support from all Third Actors across California and across the country to persuade Governor Newsom to sign these bills into law.
Thank you! And please Sign the Petition
Bill McKibben for Third Act