The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has pushed its deadline for Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting out to November 2026, with Scope 3 expected to follow in 2027. This adds to a growing, overall imperative for transparency.
The implications of California’s SB 253 (Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act) apply to U.S.-based public and private companies that do business in the state and have more than $1 billion in annual revenue. The regulator estimates that 2,600 companies will be subject to SB 253, but others may also receive requests if they fall within an in-scope company’s supply chain.
While the revised timeline provides additional preparation time, it does not change the direction of travel. The more than 60 chemical companies that make up Together for Sustainability (TfS), recognize that supply chain transparency is an increasingly essential business capability, not just a sustainability aspiration.
The Chemical Industry’s Data Challenge
Chemical companies sit upstream of almost every value chain, supplying sectors ranging from construction and textiles to electronics. As corporations face increasing expectations to provide detailed information about the emissions embedded within their products, that demand inevitably flows upstream through supplier networks.
For many organizations, the challenge is obtaining reliable data at the scale needed to support meaningful reporting, informed decision-making and effective supplier engagement. That makes supply chain visibility an important consideration for companies preparing to comply with SB 253. Companies looking to calculate their Scope 3 footprint will likely seek to obtain emissions data from suppliers and business partners.
GHG emissions data requests are already increasing. Last year, more than 45,000 suppliers were asked to provide environmental data by more than 270 buyers through CDP’s Supply Chain program. Since its launch in September 2022, TfS’s PCF Guideline — a standardized guideline for calculating product carbon footprints (PCFs) across chemical supply chains — has been downloaded 29,000 times globally. SB253 is likely to accelerate this demand for credible emissions data yet further.
But, despite the obligations, companies should not view the CCDAA as a cumbersome compliance exercise.
The real opportunity lies in using transparency to drive business value, strengthen resilience, improve supplier relationships and make better business decisions. Organizations that integrate disclosure into broader procurement and resilience strategies are likely to realize greater long-term value than those that approach it as a standalone reporting exercise.
Achieving this at scale requires one critical ingredient: consistency.
Supply chains cannot operate efficiently if every business requests emissions data differently and every supplier has a unique calculation methodology. Without common standards, companies risk creating an administrative burden that generates confusion rather than insight.
Successful Scope 3 disclosure depends on common approaches, shared methodologies and interoperable systems that enable the efficient exchange of information across value chains.
As disclosure requirements expand under CCDAA, U.S. chemical companies that supply businesses in California are likely to want increasingly reliable product-level emissions data that link purchased goods and services directly to emissions calculations. PCFs can provide product-level visibility, helping companies understand where emissions occur across their supply chains, identify opportunities for improvement, and direct resources to where they can have the greatest impact.
Cross-industry collaboration is essential if this is going to happen at scale.
TfS has created a standardized guideline for calculating PCFs throughout chemical supply chains, designed to align companies and suppliers around global frameworks such as the GHG Protocol and PACT. Complementing this, TfS’s PCF Exchange Solution enables companies and suppliers to request and send product-level emissions data efficiently and at scale.
The value of such innovations lies in their ability to simplify collaboration, avoid duplicated effort and reduce fragmentation, making it easier for suppliers to respond, and easier for businesses to use the resulting information.
Accurate Scope 3 reporting is supported by supplier engagement, and procurement teams will play a central role in making this work. The strength of supplier relationships will increasingly determine how effectively chemical companies can gather high-quality information, identify risks, and respond to changing expectations from customers and regulators.
Supply chain transparency improves procurement decisions because buyers can evaluate suppliers on risk, resilience, emissions performance and future compliance costs; not just price. For instance, if two suppliers offer identical products at similar prices, but one has verified emissions data, a buyer subject to SB 253 may prefer the latter supplier because it offers greater visibility into performance, supports more accurate reporting, and helps strengthen long-term supply chain resilience.
Preparing for a more transparent chemical industry
Importantly, these insights create value beyond regulatory reporting.
Organizations with access to consistent, comparable supplier data can target investment more effectively, prioritize opportunities to improve performance, and strengthen their supply chains. Transparency helps companies understand not only their emissions exposure, but also their operational vulnerabilities.
CARB’s disclosure requirements may provide the immediate catalyst, but the underlying trend is a much larger than one regulation. Organizations that begin building these capabilities now will be better positioned to strengthen supplier relationships, improve resilience and respond confidently as expectations around transparency continue to evolve.
Jennifer Jewson is chief procurement officer at LyondellBasell, and president at Together for Sustainability (TfS).
