CARB Opens SB 253 Reporting Intake: The Platform Provides More Than CARB's Guidance

On September 1, 2026, the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) issued guidance for the first reporting cycle under California’s Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (“SB 253”) and opened a voluntary online intake platform for submitting Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions reports. 

The new materials answer several practical questions that have remained open: what companies may submit, how reports will be filed, how CARB will handle entities without emissions data, and how consolidated reporting and fee invoicing will work.

CARB continues to use November 10, 2026 as the first-year reporting deadline. The deadline, however, appears in CARB’s proposed Initial Regulation, which still requires approval by the California Office of Administrative Law (“OAL”). The guidance itself is framed to apply "if approved by the Office of Administrative Law," and CARB's modified regulatory text, which formalizes the November 10 date, completed its 15-day comment period on August 11,