We have expanded the list of climate policies we assess company engagement with to incorporate land-use related policy, referring to legislative or regulatory measures to enhance and protect ecosystems and land where carbon is being stored. Assessments under this category are currently underweighted in terms of their contribution to the overall company metrics. This weighting will be progressively increased over the next 6 months.
We adjusted the terminology used to describe the queries running down the left-hand side of our scoring matrix and added additional explanatory text to the info-boxes. This has no impact on the scores and methodology. It has been done following user feedback to improve clarity.
In this section, we depict graphically the relationships the corporation has with trade associations, federations, advocacy groups and other third parties who may be acting on their behalf to influence climate change policy. Each of the columns above represents one relationship the corporation appears to have with such a third party. In these columns, the top, dark section represents the strength of the relationship the corporation has with the influencer. For example if a corporation's senior executive also held a key role in the trade association, we would deem this to be a strong relationship and it would be on the far left of the chart above, with the weaker ones to the right. Click on these grey shaded upper sections for details of these relationships. The middle section contains a link to the organization score details of the influencer concerned, so you can see the details of its climate change policy influence. Click on the middle sections for for details of the trade associations. The lower section contains the organization score of that influencer, the lower the more negatively it is influencing climate policy.
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Climate Lobbying Overview: Evergy appears to have mixed and limited engagement with climate change policy in the U.S. The company has minimal top-line messaging on climate policy, and has engaged primarily in Kansas and Missouri on securitization policies with an unclear future impact on the energy mix.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Evergy appears to have limited top-line messaging on climate policy. While it reports on its attempts to act on climate change within its own operations, the company does not appear to advocate in support of either the Paris Agreement or IPCC-demanded GHG emissions reductions. In the introduction to the company’s 2019 Annual Report, CEO Terry Bassham states that the utility’s decarbonization plan is aligned with the Paris Accord but does not state a position on the Paris Accord itself. Evergy does not appear to clearly support government regulation to respond to climate change, as the company acknowledges the risk of federal climate regulation in its 2020 and 2021 SEC 10-K forms but does not state a clear position.
Engagement with Climate-Related Policy: Evergy appears to have limited and mixed engagement on climate-related policy, demonstrating a pattern of opposing rooftop solar but supporting wind energy development in Kansas. As reported by the Environment America Research and Policy Center in June 2021, Evergy has a history of opposing rooftop solar incentives in the state, most recently being involved in a Kansas Supreme Court case which determined that the company and the Kansas Corporation Commission had engaged in illegal price discrimination against solar customers. In March 2021, Evergy advocated to the Kansas Senate Utilities Committee to oppose Kansas Senate Bill 279, which would impose regulatory obstacles on wind energy development in the state.
Evergy appears to support weaker federal GHG emissions regulations. In October 2020, the company advocated to the EPA to use regulatory flexibility in implementing the 2015 ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard. Evergy also seemed to support weaker Cross-State Air Pollution Rule standards in advocating for multi-year averages in determining state emission budgets in December 2020. Previously, in October 2018 comments on the EPA’s proposed Affordable Clean Energy rule, the company requested exemptions for oil and gas boilers in addition to a more flexible compliance period.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Evergy appears to have engaged with mixed positions on the energy transition, focusing primarily on state-level securitization policies that allow utilities to recover costs if they retire certain power plants. Evergy introduced a securitization bill to the Kansas Senate in February 2021, emphasizing that the mechanism for retiring power plants must be voluntary and that the recovered costs should be invested at the discretion of participating utilities. In Evergy’s March 2021 testimony on the same bill, the company stated that the legislation would create a valuable state policy in transitioning to different forms of energy. In April 2021, Energy News Network reported that Evergy supported Kansas legislation toward recovering costs from decommissioned coal plants only after language was removed that would have required utilities to invest the cost savings into clean energy. In Missouri, Evergy appeared in March and April 2021 in support of House Bill 734, which was strictly a cost securitization bill until provisions on prohibiting electrification mandates were later added. Given that there were no public hearings held after these changes, it is unclear whether Evergy supports the amended legislation.
Evergy appears to support measures toward the electrification of transportation. According to its recent Senate Lobbying Disclosure reports, Evergy has consistently promoted electric vehicle tax credits to US Congress from 2019 to the most recent quarter of 2021. In February and March 2021, the company advocated to Kansas House and Senate committees to support Kansas House Bill 2145 on expanding electric vehicle development in the state. In September 2020, Evergy signed the Midwest utility memorandum to develop an electric vehicle charging network in the region by 2022.
Industry Association Governance: Evergy lists its trade association memberships in its Public Policy Engagement document on its corporate website, but does not describe the associations’ climate policy positions. Evergy is a member of the Edison Electric Institute, which demonstrates mixed positions on U.S climate policy, including mixed engagement with the US Build Back Better Act.