On July 31, 2026, NYSDEC’s Deputy Commissioner and General Counsel issued an Enforcement Discretion Letter for the Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program in Title 6 of Codes, Rules and Regulation of the State of New York (6 CRR-NY) Part 253 (first effective December 25, 2025). The Department states that it is exercising discretion because it has decided to develop a regulatory package amending Part 253 in response to the May 26, 2026 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) changes. This letter only affects the six provisions under 6 CRR-NY Part 253. The deadlines associated with the impacted activities have been included in the table below.
| Provision in Part 253 | Activity | Regulatory Deadline | Enforcement Discretion Effective Through |
| 253-1.4(b) | 2026 Emissions Data Report | June 1, 2027 | December 31, 2027 |
| 253-1.4(b) | 2027 Emissions Data Report | June 1, 2028 | September 1, 2028 |
| 253-1.4(c) | Verification Statements for 2026 Reporting Year | December 1, 2027 | April 1, 2028 |
| 253-1.7(e) | Large Emissions Source's GHG Monitoring Plan | December 31, 2026 | June 30, 2027 |
| 253-2.4(e) | Registration of anticipated sources for specified facilities or units using imported or exported electricity | February 1, 2027 | August 31, 2027 |
| 253-2.20(a)(2) | Emissions Monitoring and Measurement Plans for operators of solid or liquid waste management facilities | September 1, 2026 | March 1, 2027 |
The Fiscal Year (FY) 2026-27 State budget, and Part VV of S.9008-C / A.10008-C signed on May 26, 2026, includes several updates to the New York State’s CLCPA. The updates significantly reduce the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emission calculation basis due to a shift from a 20-year to a 100-year global warming potential (GWP) time frame. Furthermore, the “statewide greenhouse gas emissions” definition no longer captures greenhouse gases produced outside New York from the extraction and transmission of imported fossil fuels, though emissions associated with imported electricity remain in scope. Certain fossil fuel-intensive industry sectors stand to benefit with this change as the exclusion of the upstream emissions could drop some facilities below the Large Emission Source thresholds, relieving them of the third-party verification and GHG monitoring plan obligations under 6 CRR-NY Part 253. Biogenic carbon dioxide must now be reported separately, consistent with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) methodologies, and is excluded from the statewide emission limit. On the program side, the amendments push NYSDEC’s deadline to promulgate ECL Article 75 regulations to December 31, 2028, replace the 2030 interim milestone with a target of 60 percent below 1990 levels by 2040 “to the maximum extent feasible and cost effective,” and leave the 85 percent by 2050 mandate intact. NYSDEC must now also consider a market-based, economy-wide cap-and-invest program, clean energy supply standards, affordability across customer classes, and cost containment measures in developing those regulations. The Climate Action Council’s next Scoping Plan update is due in 2028 and every six years thereafter.
The change in the GWP significantly lowers reported CO2e for methane-heavy sources such as landfills, anaerobic digesters, and natural gas systems as well as the exclusion of the upstream emissions associated with the fossil fuel could move some facilities below the 10,000 metric ton reporting threshold or the 25,000 metric ton verification threshold. The monitoring, measurement, and recordkeeping obligations that run through the 2026 reporting year are still untouched even with the NYSDEC’s enforcement discretion letter. Until amendments to Part 253 are proposed and adopted, applicability determinations rest on a metric the statute no longer uses. It now remains to be seen how the NYSDEC will carry the new metric through and let applicability contract or recalibrate the thresholds to hold the reporting universe roughly where it currently sits.
Trinity is tracking NYSDEC’s 6 CRR-NY Part 253 amendments and the broader CLCPA implementation schedule closely. If you would like to discuss updates to the CLCPA and Part 253 may impact your facility, please reach out to an expert in Trinity’s Albany, NY office.
Julia Ryan – Senior Consultant: Email or call 518.460.1935 extension 3306
Kenneth Fay – Consultant: Email or call 518.460.1936 extension 3305
Kishan Patel – Consultant: Email: Email or call 518.460.1936 extension 3303
