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.
Climate Lobbying Overview: The National Mining Association (NMA) engages negatively and actively against climate change policy in the US. The NMA appears particularly opposed to emissions reduction standards and policy to transition the energy mix.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Overall, the NMA has very little recent top-line messaging on climate policy. The association tweeted its opposition to the Green New Deal in February of 2019. Before 2018, the association supported climate change denial as reported in a 2016 Climate Investigations Center report, opposed IPCC-aligned action in its Count on Coal Blog in 2016, and supported the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement as reported by the Financial Times in June 2017.
Engagement with Climate-Related Policy: The NMA is largely opposed to specific climate policies, particularly emissions reduction standards. For example, in February 2023 comments on the proposed Federal Acquisition Regulation, NMA opposed the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions targets in the proposal, which would direct federal contractors to set science-based targets to reduce their GHG emissions. The NMA also suggested that the Federal Acquisition Regulation Council is acting beyond its legal boundary. The NMA also opposed the US Clean Power Plan on its website, accessed February 2023.
Positioning on Energy Transition: The NMA has taken a strong position against the clean energy transition, with a focus on preserving the role of coal in the energy mix. In a February 2023 testimony to the United States House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources, National Mining Association CEO Rich Nolan argued that permitting reform is needed to facilitate increased production and investment into fossil fuel infrastructure, including thermal coal mining and nuclear energy. Nolan also discussed the use of critical minerals for use in electric vehicles, but did not express a clear position on the electrification of transport. In September 2021, the association tweeted its opposition to the budget reconciliation bill due to its provisions to eliminate royalty relief for coal and to alter coal bonus payments.
NMA CEO Rich Nolan has consistently communicated support for the maintenance of coal in the energy mix, a position that does not appear aligned with IPCC advice to phase out unabated coal. In a March 2023 'From the President's Desk' blog post, Nolan advocated a continued role for coal in the US energy mix due to a lack of reliable alternatives to replace a fuel.
Despite largely negative engagement on policy related to the energy transition, NMA has shown some support for the electrification of transportation. For example, the association tweeted support for EVs in May 2021 and August 2021. In a February 2022 report by the Washington Examiner, CEO Rich Nolan also appeared to support the electrification of transport and the general energy transition.