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Where Sustainability Regulation Is Heading in 2026, and What It Means for Scope 3 Data
Reporting teams are tracking several regimes with different timelines, and some of the new rules reach into the value chain. After a perceived slowdown in 2025, Verdantix says sustainability regulation is adapting and expanding in form and scope. A Scope 3 record that holds the same four things gives a team the same evidence for each regime.
What has changed in sustainability regulation in 2026?
In Sustainability Regulatory Movement Is Picking Up: The When And Where Of It All (11 March 2026), Priyanka Bawa, Principal Analyst at Verdantix, summarises where rules were moving as of that date:
"adapting and expanding in form and scope" Priyanka Bawa, Principal Analyst, Verdantix
JurisdictionWhat Verdantix reported on 11 March 2026South KoreaA draft roadmap for mandatory climate disclosures for large KOSPI-listed firms with assets above KRW 30 trillion (USD 20.4 billion). Reporting would start with 2027 data, disclosed in 2028. The post says the new standards are broadly aligned with ISSB.CaliforniaCARB set 10 August 2026 as the first disclosure deadline for Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions under SB 253.New YorkThe State Senate passed a proposed Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act in February, which would require large firms to report direct and value chain emissions.United KingdomUK Sustainability Reporting Standards, based on IFRS Foundation standards, are final and voluntary for now. The government plans to consult on who must apply them and when.European UnionMember states took the final major step toward adopting the Omnibus proposal, narrowing the scope of the CSRD and CSDDD and clarifying timelines. Climate Law amendments include a 90% emissions reduction target for 2040.
Verdantix notes that South Korea and New York emphasise value chain transparency, including upstream and downstream emissions.
What does Verdantix advise businesses to do about it?
Build robust reporting capabilities, use phased timelines to strengthen data systems, and link sustainability metrics to financial and operational decisions. Its framing is that sustainability data is a strategic asset, and a filing is one use of it.
What should a Scope 3 record carry whichever rule applies?
The rules differ by country, scope and timing, and the frameworks behind them (ESRS E1, CDP and the ISSB standards) all ask about value chain emissions in some form. A Scope 3 record that carries four things can answer the value chain questions in any of them:
- The source document behind each figure.
- The assurance level that document states.
- The method that produced the line, with the sector average last.
- A change history, so a figure can be explained a year later.
What each regime needs from that record is for the reporting team and its assurer to decide. The record itself stays the same as the deadline changes.
What does a DitchCarbon Scope 3 record carry?
The baseline starts from verified emissions data for over 2 million organisations, built on primary emissions data wherever it exists, so suppliers that have already published are covered before any request goes out. The aim is numbers you can defend within 2 weeks, and one figure for CSRD, CDP and ISSB.
Every figure carries its source and change history. Source documents show the assurance level they carry, per scope, and the calculator is verified to ISO 14064-3, limited assurance, by UL Solutions, renewed annually. The documents are in the trust centre.
Whichever deadline a team is working to, every DitchCarbon figure arrives with its source document, its assurance level and its change history.
