Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: CMS Energy Corp (CMS Energy) appears to engage with a mix of positive and negative positions on US climate policy, with evidence of advocacy at the federal level and in Michigan. The company has minimal top-line messaging on climate, but actively advocates to prolong the role of fossil gas in the energy mix. CMS Energy is a member of several negative industry associations and serves on the board of directors for American Gas Association, which continues to strategically oppose building electrification and advocate for fossil gas infrastructure.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: CMS Energy has minimal top-line messaging on climate policy. The company does not appear to have clearly commented on the need for IPCC-recommended emissions reductions, focusing only on reducing operational emissions as outlined in its 2024 sustainability report. However, in July 2022, CMS Energy signed a C2ES advertisement advocating for Congress to enact climate investments through budget reconciliation.
Engagement with Climate-Related Policy: CMS Energy appears to engage on climate policies with a mix of positive and negative positions. At the federal level, subsidiary Consumers Energy submitted January 2022 comments on the Environmental Protection Agency’s methane standards that advocated for certain fossil gas operations to be excluded from the regulation. However, in February 2022, the company signed a joint letter organized by C2ES that advocated to Congressional leadership to pass the clean energy tax credits in the federal Build Back Better Act. In Michigan, following unsupportive positions on various renewable energy proposals in the 2018 - 2021 time period, including October 2021 testimony against community solar legislation and February 2021 testimony in opposition to a bill that would eliminate the cap on distributed energy in the state, Consumers Energy submitted June 2023 testimony appeared to support policy measures to incentivize utility-scale solar projects.
Positioning on Energy Transition: CMS Energy’s engagement with energy transition policy appears largely focused on prolonging the role of fossil gas, with active engagement on federal proposals related to the energy mix. In March 2025, subsidiary Consumers Energy submitted comments with the Utility Water Act Group that supported the Trump administration’s repeal of National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) implementing regulations and called for the expansion of eligible categorical exclusions. CMS also repeatedly opposed the ambition of the Biden administration’s power plant carbon standards in August 2023, submitting individual comments as well as comments with the Midcontinent Power Sector Collaborative and Power Generators Air Coalition that questioned the legal and technical feasibility of the proposed standards.
Industry Association Governance: CMS Energy discloses its industry association memberships on its corporate website, but does not appear to have published an industry association review. CMS Energy is a member of Edison Electric Institute and Michigan Chamber of Commerce, both of which advocate for fossil gas expansion. CMS serves on the board of directors for American Gas Association, which strategically opposes building electrification and campaigns for fossil gas infrastructure.
InfluenceMap collects and assesses evidence of corporate climate policy engagement on a weekly basis, depending on the availability of information from each specific data source (for more information see our methodology). While this analysis flows through to the company’s scores each week, the summary above is updated periodically. This summary was last updated in Q2 2025.