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 climate lobbying efforts of the Clean Energy Buyers Alliance (CEBA), formerly Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA), are focused on pushing energy markets and public policies to make it easier to buy renewable energy. The vast majority of CEBA’s climate engagement is on renewable energy legislation, and in particular on setting up competitive wholesale electricity markets.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: CEBA appears to be supportive of the need for drastic action on climate change. They released statements in 2020 broadly indicating support for the IPCC’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and for the Biden administration’s plan of carbon-free power production by 2035. However, when it comes to specific policies beyond increasing access to renewable energy, their stance on government regulation of other forms of climate change policy is unclear.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: CEBA’s priority appears to be pushing for the expansion of renewable energy markets. CEBA’s CEO, Miranda Ballentine, stressed in June 2019 the importance of changing “energy policy so you can actually buy renewables” and expressed support for government subsidies of renewable energy technologies.
More specifically, CEBA has released policy papers on renewable energy in 2020 that recommend that policymakers allow energy buyers to choose their own suppliers in U.S. states where they currently do not have a supply choice, stating that removing these market barriers to energy procurement would increase access and decrease costs to renewable energy.
When it comes to other climate-related regulations, CEBA engages with less intensity and specificity. It has also promoted green tariffs in 2019 as another market-based mechanism to promote greater usage of renewable energy and expressed a general support for provisions to improve and incentivize energy efficiency in a 2020 letter to congressional leadership.
Positioning on Energy Transition: While CEBA does strongly promote increasing access to renewable energy, it does not appear to have a stance on the role of coal, or other fossil fuels in the energy mix transition.
Industry Association Governance: CEBA does not detail its engagement with policymakers in regards to climate change issues. They do disclose a board of directors, advisory board, and a ‘leadership circle’ of its constituent members, but have not disclosed a list of all of their approximately 200 members.