Climate Change Disclosures are now a Political Football

On August 13, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California denied a motion for preliminary injunction filed by a coalition of business groups seeking to halt implementation of California’s corporate climate disclosure laws—SB 253 and SB 261. Senate Bill 253 (SB 253 )¹ requires entities that do business in California and whose total annual revenue exceeds $1 billion to disclose Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions beginning in 2026 (covering 2025 data), and Scope 3 emissions beginning in 2027 (covering 2026 data). Senate Bill 261 (SB 261),² passed as part of the same Climate Accountability legislative package, requires entities that do business in California and whose total annual revenue exceeds $500 million to publicly disclose the business’s climate-related financial risks and measures taken to reduce or adapt to that risk online every two years, beginning in 2026.³

Key Topics in Akin’s July 2025 Speaking Sustainability - Legal & Regulatory Update

The European Parliament and Council reached a provisional agreement (i.e., a post-consultation, non-binding political deal in relation to the final text of a legislative proposal) to streamline the European Union’s (EU) Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) on June 18, 2025. This is a key instrument to prevent carbon leakage and align trade policy with the EU’s climate goals. The changes are part of the EU’s broader sustainability legislative simplification package announced earlier this year. This proposal is intended to ease compliance burdens while maintaining the environmental integrity of the CBAM framework.

Key Topics in Akin’s June 2025 Speaking Sustainability - Legal & Regulatory Update

Wind energy projects along the coasts are facing uncertainty due to President Trump’s Presidential Memorandum¹ issued on January 20, “Temporary Withdrawal of All Areas on the Outer Continental Shelf from Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of the Federal Government’s Leasing and Permitting Practices for Wind Projects.” This Memorandum introduces substantial policy changes that impact both onshore and offshore wind development.

Key topics in Akin’s February 2025 Speaking Sustainability - Legal & Regulatory Update include:

Beginning on Monday, there have been a flurry of executive orders from the Trump administration reversing Biden-era energy policies, emphasizing oil and gas production, lifting the liquified natural gas (LNG) export permitting pause and withdrawing from all accords and commitments under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) including the Paris climate agreement. The orders also target electric vehicles (EVs), wind energy, international climate aid and the use of the social cost of carbon in agency decision making. For close tracking of these orders and more to come, visit the Akin Trump Executive Order tracker. Concurrently, President Trump’s nominees for the Department of the Interior (DOI), Department of Energy (DOE) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have each passed their initial rounds of committee confirmation votes, and now await votes before the Senate floor.

In the final days of his term, President Joe Biden has taken significant steps to solidify his administration’s climate legacy. The administration finalized rules for various clean energy tax credits established under the Inflation Reduction Act. However, these rules, intended to stimulate clean energy advancements through 2032, face opposition from Congressional Republicans, who are considering scaling back or repealing the credits through budget reconciliation.