California lawmaker wants to make big businesses disclose greenhouse gas emissions - SF Chronicle

Originally posted on San Francisco Chronicle

By J.D. Morris

California lawmakers may open a new front in the state’s fight against climate change by forcing large corporations to develop specific plans for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.

State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, unveiled on Wednesday an emissions disclosure bill aimed at companies that do business in California and have more than $1 billion in annual revenue. The bill, labeled the Climate Corporate Accountability Act, would require those companies to annually reveal the emissions associated with their businesses and set “science-based targets” for curbing their carbon footprints, Wiener said.

The annual disclosures would apply to emissions from direct sources, including fossil fuel combustion, as well as indirect areas such as electricity use and supply chains — including from activities that relate to a business but do not involve its own assets.

Regulators at the California Air Resources Board would have one year to develop a reporting structure, and companies would have another year to comply. The emission reduction targets would not be required until 2025.

Wiener touted the bill as the first of its kind in the nation. Some companies already disclose emissions voluntarily, he said, but his goal is to make it mandatory for corporations with large carbon footprints — and ensure that the information reported is comprehensive.

“This is an existential threat to our planet,” Wiener said. “It’s about whether this planet will be viable for our kids and our grandkids. We need bold action now, and the corporate community has to be part of that solution.”

Wiener’s efforts have already won support from Rep. Katie Porter, D-Irvine, who told The Chronicle that the bill would improve the public’s understanding about the role that various corporations play in climate change.

“I’ve seen corporations really weaponize people’s lack of information. They use it to enable their abuse,” Porter said. “This gives consumers, investors, the public and those who might contract with these corporations information — information they can use in deciding whether they want to keep doing business with companies that may be contributing to this problem or are not taking adequate steps to solve this problem.”

Climate advocates who helped craft Wiener’s bill estimate that more than 5,000 public and private U.S. corporations would meet the legislation’s revenue requirement, though it’s not clear exactly how many of them do business in the state.

“We think it’s going to be a very small number of those corporations that aren’t going to end up having some kind of business in California,” said Catherine Atkin, a director at the organization Carbon Accountable who backs the legislation.

It’s not clear yet how the bill might fare in the Legislature or what level of resistance it may encounter from large businesses or trade groups. Chevron of San Ramon, for example, reports its own emissions and reduction goals, although Wiener’s bill could potentially require changes. Chevron spokesman Sean Comey said in an email that the company would “continue to work with policymakers to help develop well-designed energy and environmental policies.”

As critics pointed out the ballooning energy usage at their rapidly expanding data centers, companies like Apple, Facebook and Google began reporting on their emissions and have set goals to reduce them. Uber has sought to persuade drivers to trade in gas cars for electric models.

In addition to reporting its own emissions, Salesforce developed “carbon accounting” software to help customers track their greenhouse-gas contributions.

UC Berkeley energy economist Severin Borenstein said that requiring emission disclosure “makes a lot of sense,” though he questioned how companies would be able to confidently calculate the emissions associated with their supply chains.

“It would not be a simple thing to do,” Borenstein said. “But the idea of disclosure, I think, is one of the tools that has had good effects in the past.”

He also said he found the bill’s timing “a little odd,” given the new administration of President Biden, which is positioning itself to take a much more aggressive stance against climate change than the federal government did under former President Donald Trump. Still, Borenstein said that pushing for more information was “a fine thing to do,” even if doesn’t have a huge impact.

If passed, Wiener’s bill would be the latest in a long line of aggressive climate policies California has pursued in recent years. Just last year, for example, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that the state would phase out the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035.

Newsom also called for a ban on the fossil fuel extraction method known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking — and Wiener previously said he would help enshrine that goal in law. That legislation is still being developed and should be introduced in the coming weeks, Wiener said.

J.D. Morris is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jd.morris@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thejdmorris