Catherine Atkin: The Architect of SB 253

Catherine Atkin, co-founder and director of Carbon Accountable, was one of the architects behind SB 253 — California's landmark climate disclosure law. In this episode, Catherine takes us back to the drafting table: why mandatory disclosure was necessary, why California was the right venue, and how SB 253 was built to work alongside (not against) the GHG Protocol, CSRD, and IFRS S2. We dig into where CARB's current rulemaking stands on phasing in Scope 3 categories, how the GHG Protocol's move toward primary-data requirements might interact with SB 253, and why Catherine sees disclosure as a necessary (if insufficient) precondition for real decarbonization. Catherine also shares her work with the Task Force for Corporate Action Transparency (TCAT), helping companies get credit for climate action beyond their own scopes 1, 2, and 3 — and closes with her five-year vision for what "routine" climate reporting could look like in California. Sponsored by North Star Carbon & Impact.