Sustainability

Recent Sustainability Regulatory Updates:

• Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) (EU)
  
  • Key Date: Definitive regime began January 1, 2026
  • Next Major Deadline: September 30, 2027 — first annual CBAM declaration and surrender of certificates for 2026 imports. 
    
  • Status: Active. The 2023–2025 transitional reporting period has ended. EU importers above the applicable 50-tonne threshold for covered CBAM goods must become authorized CBAM declarants. The definitive regime requires reporting of embedded emissions and corresponding CBAM financial obligations. Certificates covering 2026 emissions become available for purchase beginning in February 2027.
• Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) (EU)
  • Key Date: Reporting timelines and scope have changed significantly under the EU's Omnibus I simplification package.
  • Status: Active, but substantially revised. The EU's “stop-the-clock” measure postponed reporting requirements by two years for companies that had not yet begun CSRD reporting. In February 2026, the EU also approved changes narrowing CSRD's scope, generally to companies with more than 1,000 employees and more than €450 million in annual net turnover, with separate thresholds for certain non-EU companies.
  • Latest Update: In July 2026, the European Commission adopted revised European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), reducing mandatory datapoints by more than 60%. 
    
• SEC Climate Disclosure Rules
  • Original Timeline: The 2024 rules contemplated phased reporting beginning with certain disclosures in 2026.
  • Status: Stayed and proposed for rescission. The SEC stayed the rules in April 2024 during litigation and ended its defense of them in March 2025. In September 2025, the Eighth Circuit placed the litigation in abeyance while the SEC reconsidered the rules.
  • Latest Update: On May 29, 2026, the SEC formally proposed rescinding the 2024 climate-related disclosure rules in their entirety. The comment period closed August 3, 2026. The rescission is currently a proposal, so the original rules remain stayed rather than operative. 
    
• California Climate Disclosure Rules (SB 253 & SB 261)
  • SB 253 — Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act: Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse-gas reporting begins in 2026. CARB established August 10, 2026 as the first-year reporting deadline and has indicated it will exercise enforcement discretion during initial implementation. Scope 3 reporting is scheduled to follow in 2027. 
  • SB 261 — Climate-Related Financial Risk Act: Enforcement is currently enjoined. The Ninth Circuit issued an injunction in November 2025 preventing enforcement while the appeal is pending, and CARB has stated that it will not enforce SB 261 at this time. 
  • Status: SB 253 is active and moving forward; SB 261 is currently subject to a court injunction. 
  
  

Important Sustainability Items and Documents are Linked Below:

• Environmental Acronyms, Abbreviations and Glossary of Terms
• BSA's Introduction to ISO 14001
• BSA's Sustainability Overview

Important Sustainability Regulations are Linked Below:

• Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)
• United Nations - Department of Economic and Social Affairs Sustainable Development Implementation Progress
  • 2026 Sustainable Development Goals Report
• Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)
• German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (GSCDDA)
• EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD)
• Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
• Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB)
• SEC’s Climate Disclosure Rules
• California Climate Disclosure Rule - SB 253 — Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act
• California Climate Disclosure Rule - SB 253 — Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act