On December 1, 2025, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) announced in an enforcement advisory that it would not enforce SB 261 against covered companies that do not submit climate-related financial risk reports (Risk Reports) by the January 1, 2026, deadline. This announcement follows the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ (Ninth Circuit) injunction against the enforcement of SB 261 during the pendency of appellate proceedings in litigation challenging SB 261 and SB 253. For more information on the Ninth Circuit’s injunction, please see our client alert.

CARB plans to provide an updated reporting timeline once the Ninth Circuit appellate proceedings are resolved. In-scope companies should continue preparing their Risk Reports and stay updated on CARB’s continued rulemaking (including related to SB 261) so that they are well-positioned to comply, if needed, upon the Ninth Circuit’s ruling in the current appellate proceedings.

Our client alert on preparation for SB 261 can be found here and CARB workshops related to ongoing rulemaking for SB 261 (including the most recent definitions proposed by CARB, including for “revenue” and “doing business in California”) can be found here.