New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced the release of new draft regulations, proposing mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reporting from some significant emitters, with reporting to begin in 2027 on the previous year’s data.

While noting that the new proposal “does not impose requirements for facilities to reduce GHG pollution or to obtain emission allowances,” it forms part of the DEC’s mandate from Governor Kathy Hochul to advance a mandatory GHG reporting program as part of a new planned cap-and-invest system requiring large emitters to purchase allowances to cover their emissions beyond an allowed and declining cap.

Initially unveiled by Hochul in 2023, the cap-and-invest program would require large greenhouse gas emitters and fuel distributors in New York to pay more than $1 billion per year to purchase allowances for the emissions associated with their activities, based on an economy-wide emissions cap, which would be reduced every year, on a trajectory aligned with the state’s Climate Act, with proceeds used to fund emissions reduction initiatives and support vulnerable communities facing rising energy prices.

In an update earlier this year in her 2025 State of the State presentation, Hochul directed the DEC and New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to continue working towards implementation of the system, including proposing new reporting regulations to gather information on emissions sources.

Under the new proposals, entities required to begin reporting annually on GHG emissions would include electric power entities, owners and operators of electricity generation, stationary combustion, landfills, waste-to-energy, natural gas compressor stations, and other infrastructure facilities in the state that emit over 10,000 metric tons of CO2e annually, as well as fuel suppliers, waste haulers, fertilizer and agricultural lime suppliers, and anaerobic digesters and liquid storage of waste facilities that meet certain thresholds.
According to DEC Acting Commissioner Amanda Lefton, the reporting requirements will help to “fill the data gaps left behind by proposed federal rollbacks.”

Lefton added:

“The proposed Reporting Rule will enable us to collect the information necessary to develop effective strategies that reduce harmful air pollution and direct investments where they are most needed, while also protecting New York’s consumers and economic competitiveness.”

Alongside the new draft regulation, the DEC said that it will offer several forms of assistance and guidance to help entities comply with the new reporting requirements, including an online platform to streamline the reporting process, and training on the platform once it launches, as well as a simplified estimator tool, currently under development, to help fuel suppliers and other emissions sources approximate whether their operations would necessitate submitting data annually. The DEC added that the proposal also helps minimize costs by utilizing data already required to be reported under existing State and federal requirements and other mandatory reporting programs.

The DEC opened a public comment period on the new proposal, which will run through July 1, 2025.