The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) voted on March 27, 2025 to stop defending its rules requiring disclosure of climate-related risks and greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions. The SEC adopted those rules on March 6, 2024, and, within a month, exercised its discretion to stay the rules pending the resolution of consolidated judicial challenges. Under the SEC’s rules, initial disclosures would have been required following fiscal years starting in 2025.

In February, anticipating the rollback of national reporting standards, the “Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act,” S.4117 was introduced in the New Jersey Senate, which would impose GHG reporting requirements on companies with annual revenue in excess of $1 billion that do business in New Jersey. Pursuant to the bill, within four years of passage reporting entities would report direct GHG emissions (“Scope 1 emissions”), and GHG emissions attributable to the entities’ electricity, heat, and cooling (“Scope 2 emissions). Within five years, reporting entities would report total GHG emissions (“Scope 3 emissions). The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection would be authorized to collect fees from all reporting entities and could issue fines of up to $50,000 per day to companies that fail to timely report. The bill was referred from the Senate Environment and Energy Committee to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee on March 17.

New Jersey’s proposed legislation is largely duplicative of other reporting requirements. California adopted similar legislation in 2023, and reporting in California will start in 2026. Reports submitted to California would satisfy New Jersey’s reporting requirements. Similar legislation is also being considered in Colorado, New York, and Illinois. Large European companies must start reporting greenhouse gas Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions this year pursuant to the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. Non-EU companies with over €900M in revenue doing business in the EU must start reporting GHG emissions in 2028