SB 253 reporting software: California climate disclosure for Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions

Two things about that table are worth saying out loud, because they change what you should be doing this quarter. First, the threshold is tested on total revenue, not California revenue, using the lesser of your previous two fiscal years. A company with $1.2 billion in global revenue and one sales office in California is in scope. Second, "doing business in California" is a broad test, and plenty of companies that do not think of themselves as California companies meet it.

The deadline has moved once and could move again. CARB adopted its initial regulations on February 26, 2026 with an August 10, 2026 first-year deadline, then announced on June 24, 2026 that it intends to defer that date to November 10, 2026 through an expedited rulemaking. Treat November 10 as the working date, and check the CARB program page before you rely on it, because the rulemaking is still open.

SB 253 applies to entities formed in the United States with more than $1 billion in total annual revenue that do business in California. Revenue is measured on the lesser of the entity's previous two fiscal years, so a single strong year does not pull you in, and a single weak year does not push you out. Parent companies report on a consolidated basis, and subsidiaries covered by a parent's report generally do not file separately.

The first Scope 1 and Scope 2 report is due November 10, 2026, after CARB announced on June 24, 2026 that it would defer the original August 10, 2026 date by three months. Which fiscal year you report depends on your year end: entities whose fiscal year ends between January 1 and February 1, 2026 report fiscal 2026 data, and entities whose fiscal year ends after February 1 report fiscal 2025 data. The intent is to give every filer at least six months after year end.

Yes, but not yet. Scope 3 disclosure begins in 2027, and CARB is still running pre-rulemaking on the Scope 3 framework, organizational boundaries, accounting methods and assurance standards. That gap is the whole planning opportunity. Scope 3 is where the data problem lives, it usually accounts for the large majority of a corporate footprint, and the companies that treat 2026 as a Scope 1 and 2 exercise will start 2027 from nothing. The 15 Scope 3 categories are the map, and Scope 3 reporting covers the method.

Not for the first submission. CARB has said it will exercise enforcement discretion and accept Scope 1 and Scope 2 data companies already hold or were already collecting, whether or not it received limited assurance. That relief is specific to the 2026 reporting cycle. Limited assurance is expected to bite later, which is an argument for building an inventory that could survive assurance now rather than assembling one that cannot.

SB 253 is a number, SB 261 is a narrative. SB 253 makes you publish a measured GHG inventory. SB 261 makes you publish how climate change threatens your business and what you are doing about it, at a lower $500 million revenue threshold, every two years. SB 261's January 1, 2026 statutory deadline is currently not being enforced: a Ninth Circuit injunction is in play and CARB has said it will set an alternate date once the appeal resolves. Most companies over $1 billion are in scope for both.

That is the shape of our carbon accounting software: it starts from the accounts payable and utility data you already have, classifies it to GHG Protocol scopes and categories, and keeps the line-level evidence attached so the number has a provenance instead of a vibe. You can run the classifier on your own lines in the demo above, before you talk to anyone. If your exposure is European rather than Californian, CSRD reporting software and CBAM reporting cover those regimes, and ESG reporting software is the wider category view. Comparing vendors is on best carbon accounting software.