What You Need to Know About the New DEC Regulations

On December 1, 2025, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) finalized its rule under 6 NYCRR Part 253 to track sources of climate pollution. The rule establishes DEC’s Mandatory Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reporting Program, which Governor Hochul directed as part of the 2025 State of the State Address. The Reporting Program is for data collection only. However, this rule is a necessary step before DEC establishes a limit on statewide GHG emissions as would occur under a potential cap-and-invest program, which has been subject to recent uncertainty and litigation.

What does the Reporting Program require?

Under the Reporting Program, which goes into effect on December 25, 2025, certain entities will be required to report and keep record of their annual GHG emissions. These emissions must be reported in metric tons of CO2 equivalents (“CO2e”). Reporting entities will be required to complete and retain for review a GHG Monitoring Plan, which describes the owner or operator’s processes and procedures to comply with the Reporting Program. Certain reporting entities with larger emissions (“Large Emission Sources”) will be required to verify their reported emissions. Table 1 below outlines how reporting and verification thresholds are applied to each entity type, and accordingly, what information must be included in the annual emissions reports.

The rule is structured by a set of general provisions in Subpart 253-1 that outline which facilities are regulated by the Reporting Program, followed by a set of entity type-specific reporting requirements in Subpart 253-2, a set of procedures for estimating missing or invalid data in Subpart 253-3, and a set of requirements for the verification of reporting data in Subpart 253-4. For a complete picture of a facility’s reporting requirements, it is critical to account for requirements in both the general provisions and the entity type-specific provisions. The general provisions outline important requirements pertaining to calculating emissions, measurement accuracy and more, while the entity type-specific provisions may require emissions data in a specific unit of measurement or the collection of additional product data.

Entity Type	Must REPORT Emissions If…	Must VERIFY Emissions If…	Report Must Include…
Owners and Operators of Facilities	Meets or exceeds 10,000 MT or more of CO₂equivalent per year or is a CO₂ Budget Source under Part 242.	Meets or exceeds 25,000 MT CO₂e per emission year.	GHG emissions (in CO₂e) from stationary combustion. Process, vented, and fugitive emissions. Upstream out-of-state emissions from fossil fuel use. Activity/product data.
Suppliers of Natural Gas	Must report if supplying any quantity of natural gas.	15 million cubic feet or more of natural gas per emission year.	GHG (in CO₂e) emissions from the combustion of fuels delivered to end users in New York State. Amount and type of fuel delivered to an end user in New York State (including biomass derived fuels). Upstream out-of-state emissions from fossil fuel use.
Suppliers of Liquid Fuels and Petroleum Products	Must report if supplying any quantity of liquid fuels or petroleum products.	100,000 gallons or more of affected liquid fuels per emission year.	GHG (in CO₂e) emissions from the combustion of fuels delivered to end users in New York State. Amount and type of fuel delivered to an end user in New York State (including biomass derived fuels). Upstream out-of-state emissions from fossil fuel use.
Suppliers of Compressed Natural Gas and Liquified Natural Gas	Must report if supplying any quantity of compressed natural gas or liquified natural gas.	15 million cubic feet or more of liquefied natural gas and/or compressed natural gas per emission year.	GHG (in CO₂e) emissions that result from the use of compressed and liquefied natural gas imported into New York State, sold or delivered to others. Upstream out-of-state emissions from fossil fuel use.
Suppliers of Coal	Must report if supplying any quantity of coal.	500 U.S. short tons of coal per emission year.	GHG (in CO₂e) emissions from the combustion of coal delivered or sold to end users in New York State. Amount and type of coal delivered to an end user in New York State. Upstream out-of-state emissions from fossil fuel use. The average higher heating value for each coal delivery.
Waste Haulers and Transporters	Estimated emissions from solid wastes transported to landfills or combustion facilities outside of New York exceed 10,000 MT CO₂e emissions in any year.	25,000 MT CO₂e per emission year. This applies to the sum of emissions reported for out-of-state landfill facilities and out-of-state combustion facilities for all of the waste exported out of New York	GHG emissions from the combustion of waste delivered to combustion facilities outside of New York State. Methane (CH₄) emissions from landfilling of waste outside of New York State. Total mass of waste transported.
Electric Power Entities	Must report for any GHG emissions or imported MWh.	Exempted.	CO₂e from each category of electricity delivered. The first point of receipt, final point of delivery and NERC e-tags for all delivered electricity. Electricity exported from and wheeled through New York State. Imported electricity from unspecified sources.
Supplier of Agricultural Lime and Fertilizer	Must report if any quantity of agricultural liming materials or commercial fertilizer is supplied that generates GHG emissions.	N/A	Distributors of fertilizer must report the quantity of nitrogen distributed and the amount of nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions that result from land application. Distributors of lime must report the amount distributed to users in New York State and the resulting CO₂ emissions.
Anaerobic Digestion and Liquid Waste Storage	Must report wastes imported to the facility or generated at the facility during the reporting year that can produce 10,000 MT of CO₂e.	N/A	Smaller facilities may be eligible for abbreviated reporting. Annual reports for each anaerobic digester, including any liquid or slurry waste storage Reports must include operational information, including but not limited to location, year of construction, operational volume and any methods used to dewater digestate after anaerobic treatment. Activity data, including but not limited to the total mass of nitrogen in waste, information on the type of waste processed and total mass of biochemical oxygen. Quantity of biogas combusted or captured.

Note: Definitions of entity types can be found at Subpart 253-1.3.

Are there exemptions?

There are limited reporting and verification exemptions for certain entities. Emissions reporting is not required for:

Fire suppression systems and equipment.
Portable equipment at a facility when the fuel used in the equipment has been purchased at a retail location.
Retailers of fuel unless the retailer is otherwise a facility or fuel supplier.

Emissions reporting verification is not required for:

Facilities regulated by DEC under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (“RGGI,” Part 242), but not facilities with units that receive one of two limited exemptions under RGGI.
Facility emissions associated with fuel supplied by a fuel supplier to facilities regulated under RGGI.
Facilities where residential use accounts for 60% or more of total floor area.
N2O emissions associated with facilities classified as anaerobic digestion and liquid waste storage facilities under Subpart 253-2.2 but not such emissions from the utilization of fuels as such facilities.
Emissions from electric power entities regulated under Subpart 253-2.4.
Emissions from fugitive refrigerant sources regulated under Subpart 253-2.21(b).
Emissions from any fuel production facility or other entity that sells a fuel product to a fuel supplier as regulated under Subpart 253-2.18(c) unless otherwise required under the Reporting Program.

Next steps for New York businesses

Emission sources or facilities that might be required to report emissions under the Reporting Program should consider the following actions:

Review emissions from each Reporting Year, 2023-2025. Reporting Years are by calendar year (January 1 – December 31).
If an emission source’s annual emissions meet or exceed the thresholds above in any one of those years, the emissions source will be considered a reporting entity under the Reporting Program as of January 1, 2026, and will be required to submit an annual emissions report.
Complete and retain for review a written GHG Monitoring Plan. For Large Emission Sources, a GHG Monitoring Plan must be submitted to DEC by December 31, 2026.
The annual emissions report for Reporting Year 2026 will be due on June 1, 2027. The emissions source will be required to report in each future year until cessation requirements are met.
Review the entity type-specific reporting requirements in Subpart 253-2. These provisions may have additional data that is required to be included in the annual emissions report.
Reports must be submitted through the new NYS Electronic Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reporting Tool (“NYS e-GGRT”). This tool is currently under development. DEC plans to provide training once the NYS e-GGRT is in place.