On December 1, 2025, the New York State Department of Conservation (“NYSDEC”) issued its final regulations for the state’s new Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (“GHG Reporting Program”). The rules require certain facilities, fuel suppliers, and other industrial operations located or operating in New York to quantify and report their greenhouse gas emissions, with the first reports covering 2026 emissions due in 2027. The following alert provides a high-level overview of the requirements of the program.
Context
New York passed the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (“CLCPA”) in 2019, which requires greenhouse gas emissions reductions from all areas of the state’s economy. The Climate Action Council established under the CLCPA recommended that NYSDEC establish a mandatory registry and reporting program to obtain emissions data that will better inform future policy. These new regulations implement that recommendation.
New York has otherwise been slow to implement regulations necessary to actually reduce emissions, and the state has already conceded that some of the CLCPA’s mandatory deadlines will not be met. There is also a lot of hand wringing happening in Albany about how greenhouse gas regulations could result in inflation. While the creation of the GHG Reporting Program is an incremental step towards implementing the CLCPA, it is still strictly a reporting program. The enactment of concrete limits on greenhouse gas emissions in New York (other than for electricity generation) still seems to be a ways away.
The rules
Who is required to report? The GHG Reporting Program requires the following “Reporting Entities” to submit an annual emissions data report to NYSDEC:
- “Facilities” (i.e., buildings, structures, and equipment, including landfills) located in New York emitting greenhouse gases in excess of 10,000 metric tons CO2e per year;
- Fuel suppliers whose fuel is sold to end users in New York, including:
- Suppliers of natural gas
- Suppliers of liquid fuels and petroleum products
- Suppliers of liquified natural gas and compressed natural gas
- Suppliers of coal
- Waste haulers and transporters transporting waste to landfills outside of New York that will generate in excess of 10,000 metric tons CO2e per year;
- Electric power entities, including electricity importers, electricity exporters, or retail providers whose electricity generates any greenhouse gases, and importers of any megawatt-hours of electricity;
- Suppliers of agricultural lime and fertilizer that are produced in New York or that are sold for application to soils in New York; and
- Anaerobic digesters and liquid waste storage in New York in excess of certain thresholds established by the type of waste.
What is required to be reported? Reporting Entities must monitor emissions and submit emissions data reports to NYSDEC. Reporting will be required on a web-based platform that has not been released yet, but is expected to be similar to the federal e-GGRT system. Many of the requirements are consistent with the federal Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program found in 40 CFR Part 98 and California and Washington’s mandatory reporting rules, but New York’s requirements are broader to ensure that the reports provide the information specifically required to support the CLCPA. Most significantly, New York’s new rules will require submittal of information from fuel suppliers, electricity importers, and affected facilities regarding not just their own operations, but also the upstream, out-of-state greenhouse gas emissions associated with the extraction, production and transmission of fossil fuels and electricity consumed in the state.1 In addition, the regulations require submission of additional product data from aluminum, cement, glass, iron and steel, and lead facilities, which will help the state determine whether to provide relief to those emissions-intensive and trade-exposed (“EITE”) industries under the “cap-and-invest” program currently under development by NYSDEC.
When is reporting required? Emissions reporting for affected industries/facilities starts in 2026. The first reports (for the 2026 “emission year”) are due on June 1, 2027.
Is verification of emissions data required? Yes, for “Large Emission Sources,” defined as follows:
- Facilities generating more than 25,000 metric tons CO2e per emission year;
- The following fuel suppliers:
- Natural gas suppliers selling 15,000,000 cubic feet or more of gas per emission year
- Suppliers of liquid fuels/petroleum products selling 100,000 gallons or more per emission year
- Suppliers of liquified/compressed natural gas selling 15,000,000 cubic feet of gas per emission year
- Suppliers of coal selling 500 US short tons of coal or more per emission year
- Waste haulers and transporters shipping or hauling 25,000 metric tons CO2e or more per emission year.
Large Emission Sources will need to verify their emissions through a third-party verifier. In the first emission year, the source will need to obtain a full verification, which includes a site visit, sampling plan, review of the data management system, and data checks. If the facility receives a “positive emissions statement” indicating there is no material misstatement in its emissions report, then it will be eligible for less intensive verification for the next two years. This three-year cycle then repeats for every year the source remains a Large Emission Source. Verifications are due on December 1 in 2027 and 2028, and on August 10th each year after that.
Are there any planning requirements? Yes. Each facility operator or supplier that reports under Part 253 must prepare a written greenhouse gas monitoring plan. Large Emission Sources subject to verification must submit the monitoring plan to NYSDEC for its review by December 31, 2026, or at any time thereafter that a facility or supplier becomes a Large Emission Source. The plan must identify the personnel or positions responsible for collecting emissions data, explain the methods used to collect the required data, and describe the methods used for quality assurance, maintenance, and repair of all measuring devices. The plan must be updated regularly as processes and monitoring devices change.
In addition, anaerobic digesters, handlers of liquid wastes, and solid waste management facilities must also submit a separate Emissions Monitoring and Measurement Plan addressing methane emissions. Such a plan must be submitted to NYSDEC for approval by September 1, 2026.
What are the penalties for non-compliance? They are significant. Each day that a report is unsubmitted, submitted late, or contains inaccurate or incomplete information is a separate violation. In addition, each metric ton that is emitted but not reported is a separate violation, and each failure to measure or collect information that is required by the regulations is a separate violation. So hypothetically, in a situation where a Reporting Entity submits a report 30 days late, miscalculates emissions by five metric tons, and fails to properly collect one data point in accordance with its monitoring plan, that entity could face a maximum penalty of over $500,000.
Expected impacts
The program will impose a new administrative obligation on many industrial facilities in New York, and most entities selling fuels or electricity into New York. The magnitude of that burden will depend on the size and sophistication of the company. Larger companies that already track their greenhouse gas emissions (including Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions) will likely be able to manage the program’s requirements with few issues, although generating the monitoring plan, registering for and figuring out the new reporting system, and completing the verification process for the first time will still take some doing. For smaller companies or those who have not previously tracked their emissions, these obligations are likely to seem daunting, and they will need to engage consultants to assist them through the process. Since data collection requirements begin in 2026, Reporting Entities do not have a lot of time to prepare for the process and may need to learn on the fly.
Part of the challenge with the regulations will be determining their applicability. The regulations are not always clear on that, and many of the over 1,000 comments received on the regulations were questions about applicability. It may take some time and effort by companies and their counsel, especially those with limited ties and no direct sales to New York, to determine whether their operations are subject to regulation.
Finally, Reporting Entities will also need to monitor the changes to the federal GHGRP recently proposed by the Trump administration. As we previously reported, the US Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to end reporting obligations for 46 source categories under the GHGRP, and delay others until 2034. Many of the reporting obligations in the GHG Reporting Program expressly cite to the federal rules, raising a question of what effect such changes would have on New York’s program. The Regulatory Impact Statement issued by NYSDEC in connection with the final rule only states that the Department “may” need to make corresponding changes to Part 253 if changes are made to the federal rule. We will be monitoring both the changes to the federal rules and the implementation of the state rules, and reporting on any new developments.
1 Notably, both the fuel supplier and certain facilities that consume the fuel will need to report on emissions, which NYSDEC has acknowledged is part of the design of the program.
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This article is prepared for the general information of interested persons. It is not, and does not attempt to be, comprehensive in nature. Due to the general nature of its content, it should not be regarded as legal advice.
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