ESRS Enters Force & California SB 253 Deadline: Climate Disclosure's Big Week

A Landmark 48 Hours for Climate Disclosure Regulation

November 10–11, 2026 marks one of the most consequential back-to-back moments in the history of mandatory climate disclosure. Three separate regulatory milestones—one European, one Californian, and one technical—converged within a single day, reshaping the compliance landscape for thousands of large companies worldwide.

Revised ESRS Enters Into Force

The EU's simplified European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), codified as Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1563, formally entered into force on November 10, 2026. As ESG Today reported, the regulation was published in the Official Journal of the EU back on September 21, 2026, following the European Commission's adoption of the revised delegated act on July 3, 2026. The new standards apply to financial years beginning on or after January 1, 2027, meaning first reports under the revised ESRS are expected in 2028.

The revision is the product of the EU's Omnibus I initiative, which dramatically narrowed CSRD's scope. According to PwC's analysis, mandatory datapoints were cut by more than 60% compared to the 2023 ESRS, though the climate-change standard ESRS E1 retains a disclosure requirement on the anticipated financial effects of physical and transition risk—renumbered from E1-9 to E1-11. Companies doing business in financial year 2026 may choose to continue under the old ESRS, apply the revised standards in full, or use the old standards with specified reliefs, per Bloomberg's regulatory brief.

EFRAG's XBRL Taxonomy Consultation Closes Today

Simultaneously, today—November 11, 2026—marks the closing deadline for EFRAG's public consultation on its draft XBRL taxonomy for the revised ESRS. As EFRAG's own announcement confirmed, the draft taxonomy was released on September 17, 2026 and is designed to give ESRS disclosures a machine-readable, digital form. EFRAG intends to submit the finalised taxonomy to ESMA and the European Commission by year-end 2026, after which ESMA will develop the relevant Regulatory Technical Standards. The consultation was targeted primarily at software vendors and digital reporting specialists, per Linklaters' sustainability blog.

California's SB 253 First Deadline Also Hit November 10

Across the Atlantic, the first reporting deadline under California's Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (SB 253) also fell on November 10, 2026. KPMG's regulatory tracker confirmed that California's Office of Administrative Law approved CARB's initial regulation in October 2026, locking in the November 10 date. Under the law, U.S.-formed companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue that do business in California were required to submit their first Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions reports—covering fiscal year 2025 data—to CARB by that date. Scope 3 reporting is deferred to 2027. As Vinson & Elkins noted, first-year enforcement flexibility is available but does not eliminate the reporting obligation itself.

The US Federal Picture: SEC Rule Heads Toward Rescission

Meanwhile, the federal US climate disclosure landscape continues to diverge sharply from both the EU and California. The SEC formally proposed rescinding its 2024 climate disclosure rules in May 2026, and the public comment period closed on August 3, 2026, as ModusAlliance and onestopesg.com both noted. A final rescission vote is expected in late 2026 or early 2027 at the earliest, leaving California's regime as the de facto US compliance floor for large multinationals.