Transition Finance Weekly - February 26, 2026
Scope 3 Continues; Clean Energy Boosts Project Favorability; California Risk Mitigation Legislation
BREAKING
This morning, Vanguard caved to pressure from Republican AGs, agreeing to a $29.5 million settlement without an admission of guilt to settle partisan accusations of breaching antitrust law. BlackRock and State Street remain in ongoing litigation.
1. California and Companies Continue Focus on Emissions
Today, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is holding a hearing on proposed climate-related financial disclosures — meanwhile, companies continue to invest in Scope 3.
CARB is holding its first public hearing today on its draft regulations under California’s twin 2023 laws, SB 253 and SB 261, which require large companies to report their emissions and their climate-related financial risks. In November 2025, a U.S. Court of Appeals halted enforcement in SB 261 pending the outcome of an appeal, after a lower court ruled against the law’s challengers.
California is moving forward with implementing SB 253, the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, and is planning to set the first-year reporting deadline for companies covered by the law. Under the law, companies will need to report their Scope 1 and 2 emissions this year, with Scope 3 emissions reporting beginning in 2027.
Meanwhile, new research indicates that companies are continuing to prioritize Scope 3 emissions reporting, despite policy uncertainty in the United States. As companies continue to face and contend with significant climate risks, which will continue to exist whether or not companies track them, standardized disclosure becomes all the more important for investors and corporate leaders.
2. Clean Energy Changes the Data Center Game
For data centers, meeting energy needs with renewable generation is one of the few things that increases public support.
New data in polling by Climate Power, a climate-focused communications organization, finds that voters are significantly more supportive of data center development when paired with clean energy than fossil fuels.
Overall, voters said they’d support renewable-powered data centers by a 25 point margin, while voters opposed data centers powered by fossil fuels by a margin of 16 points, representing a 41 percentage point swing in net support.
For data center developers and hyperscalers, it’s yet another data point showing that there is a better way to build: with new, matched clean energy, particularly amidst the upswell of local opposition to data centers across the country.
SEIA Communications Director Seth Miller: “If data centers want to maintain their social license to operate... the need to BYONCE. (Bring Your Own New Clean Electricity)”
3. Insurers Worked To Undermine Climate Risk Rules
Insurance lobbyists fought as the world’s insurance regulators tried to set standards for climate risk.
New research from accountability researchers InfluenceMap found that insurers “mobilized to slow down efforts” at the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) to set global standards for climate-related insurance risk management. The insurance industry’s lobbying groups, many of which are based in the United States, downplayed risks to the insurance industry.
The industry’s statements downplaying climate risks to regulators stands in sharp contrast to other statements from insurance companies claiming that climate change and climate risks “exacerbate” losses for insurers. Insurers have been acutely aware of the threats to their business model from climate change since the early 1970s.
Still, insurers continue to invest heavily in fossil fuels, despite the serious threats that climate change poses to their bottom line. In 2023, fossil fuel companies made up nearly 5% of all insurance industry portfolio holdings.
4. California Considers New Risk Mitigation Legislation
A new California bill would require insurers to cover homes meeting wildfire safety standards.
Senator Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Alhambra), Chair of the Senate Insurance Committee, and Senator Mike McGuire, Senate Majority Leader, introduced SB 1076, a bill that would require insurers to offer coverage to homeowners whose properties meet minimum home hardening standards. The bill is being backed by consumer advocates.
The bill is part of a new nationwide trend to require insurers to recognize individuals’ efforts to mitigate physical risk. In 2025, Colorado passed legislation to require insurers to give homeowners a discount on premiums based on physical mitigation. Lawmakers in Washington are considering similar legislation.
These measures acknowledge an important truth: to deal with skyrocketing insurance rates, states will have to focus on actual risk reduction, both at the individual home level and the community level. States are increasingly taking up policies that seek to create a positive flywheel between making these investments, lowering risk, and strengthening access to affordable insurance.
5. Buffett’s PacifiCorp Agrees To Pay Half A Billion
Berkshire Hathaway-owned utility PacifiCorp in Oregon will pay $575 million as part of a wildfire settlement with the federal government.
To settle a series of lawsuits filed by the federal government, PacifiCorp, a Western utility owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, has agreed to pay $575 million for its role in sparking multiple fires in 2020 and 2022. Meanwhile, a jury also awarded 15 wildfire survivors $300 million yesterday as part of a class action against PacifiCorp in its role in the fires.
PacifiCorp faced liability over its role in the 2020 Labor Day Fires, during which it kept power lines charged. It now says it resolved nearly 90% of “known claims,” totaling more than $2.2 billion in liability. While the utility says it remains “financially healthy,” last fall it faced a credit downgrade by S&P Global to BBB-, one step away from a “non-investment” grade.
The recent saga is another warning sign for other utilities on the west coast, which are facing significant threats to their physical infrastructure from climate disasters, while also facing increasing liability risk from the same physical infrastructure. In some circumstances, utilities are being forced to interrupt service to customers during high-risk periods.
SPOTLIGHT: Renewables Can’t Stop Winning
Despite the federal government’s best efforts, wind, solar, and batteries will continue to dominate American grid additions through 2026, according to data from the Energy Information Administration. Wind, solar, and batteries account for 93% of the 86 GW in projected 2026 energy capacity additions. While there’s 6.3 GW of natural gas planned in 2026, wind will add nearly twice as much (11.8 GW) and solar accounts for seven times as much new generation (43.4 GW).
