Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: Nucor engages somewhat actively on climate policy, with particularly negative advocacy on power sector regulations in the United States.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Nucor communicates limited negative top-line positions on climate action. In its 2022 Sustainability Report, released in October 2023, the company calls for balancing trade and climate policies to guard against offshoring and carbon leakage and offers an unclear position on the need for climate regulation in general.
Engagement with Climate-Related Policy: InfluenceMap found limited recent evidence of Nucor’s engagement with specific climate policies, although the company has consistently opposed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s power plants regulations. In its comments on New York Draft Scoping Plan from 2022, it opposed a proposed carbon fee as a mechanism to reduce GHG emissions, advocating competitiveness and carbon leakage. In its comments on EPA’s Gas Power Plants Rules from May 2024, the company advocated against a stringent federal regulation of carbon emissions from existing gas power plants while suggesting the agency is acting beyond its legal boundary. It made similar comments in August 2023 on EPA’s Proposed Clean Air Act Section 111 Rules for Power Plants. Positioning on Energy Transition: Nucor’s engagement with the energy transition leans negative. Its aforementioned comments on the EPA power plants rules questions the use of CCS and hydrogen for decarbonization. However, Nucor does note the need for the auto industry to rapidly decarbonize its supply chains if it is to meet the 1.5°C climate goal in its May 2024 Automaker case study, and previously supported the decarbonization potential of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal and Buy American provisions in its 2022 Sustainability Report.
Industry Association Governance: Nucor’s corporate website discloses a list of industry associations to which it pays annual dues exceeding $50,000, without detailing its role in these groups, the policy positions of the groups, or how its own positions align. Nucor is a member of the National Association of Manufacturing (NAM), which engages highly negatively on climate policy, including advocating for the Trump administration to promote policy measures, including permitting reform, that support hydrogen produced from fossil gas in August 2025. Additionally, Nucor is a member of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) which in August 2024 comments advocated for the Trump administration's proposed repeal of the federal power plant carbon standards.
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 Q4 2024.