Ninth Circuit Rules That Preliminary Injunction Applies to SB 261 and Scope 3 Reporting Under SB 253

On November 9, 2026, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals filed an opinion ruling that a preliminary injunction applies to SB 261 and to Scope 3 reporting under SB 253, and remands for the district court to decide whether Scope 3 reporting requirements are severable. The opinion does not preliminarily enjoin Scope 1 and 2 reporting under SB 253, so it does not affect the November 10, 2026, submission deadline for that reporting. 

As a reminder, starting in 2026, business entities organized under U.S. law, doing business in California, and with annual revenues over $500M may be required by SB 261 to make biennial disclosures regarding their climate-related financial risk; and those with annual revenues over $1B are required by SB 253 to make annual disclosures of their Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions and, starting in 2027, may also be required to annually disclose their Scope 3 GHG emissions.

The Ninth Circuit’s opinion can be found here.