Climate Overview: The Business Council of New York State (BCNYS) maintains increasingly positive top-line climate messaging while having mostly negative engagement on state-level climate policy in 2020-22. In New York, BCNYS appears to have opposed a statewide carbon tax, while supporting another less stringent carbon pricing mechanism, and advocated against New York policies on renewable energy and energy efficiency standards.

Top-Line Messaging on Climate Policy: The Business Council expresses limited and mixed top-line messaging on climate policy. The Business Council of New York State stated support for NY’s environmental goals and significant emissions reductions in a 2022 joint letter on New York’s climate and energy goals, the BCNYS stated its support for significant emissions reductions. In a 2022 statement on this joint letter, BCNYS CEO Heather Mulligan expressed concerns with technological feasibility, costs, and carbon leakage from efforts to address climate change.

Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: The Business Council of New York State appears to actively oppose numerous policies attempting to address climate change. The BCNYS appeared to state opposition to the CCIA (Climate and Community Investment Act), a NY policy that would implement a statewide carbon tax, in its 2022 legislative agenda and a policy memo on the bill in January 2022. The BCNYS’s 2022 January - February lobbying report indicates that the BCNYS had directly lobbied on this bill. More positively, in August 2022 the BCNYS signed onto a joint letter that seemed to support of a carbon pricing mechanism proposal set forth by the NYISO (New York Independent Systems Operator). However, the NYISO’s proposed carbon pricing mechanism only covers electricity generation, whereas the CCIA pollution fee imposes a tax on the sale of all carbon based fuels in the state of New York.

In a policy memo published in May 2022, the BCNYS appeared to state its opposition to the Appliance and Equipment Energy Efficiency Standards Bill. In a policy memo published in June 2022, the BCNYS stated opposition to the New York State Build Public Renewables Act, requiring the NY power authority to provide only renewable energy and power to customers and state owned properties. The BCNYS July - August 2022 lobbying disclosure reveals that the BCNYS also directly lobbied on this bill.

Positioning on Energy Transition: The BCNYS appears to have a mostly negative position on policies around the energy transition. In a May 2022 policy memo the BCNYS stated opposition to New York’s Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Mandate, a bill that mandates the construction of electric vehicle charging infrastructure at certain residential and commercial buildings. The BCNYS also appeared to oppose New York’s All Electric Building Act in a March 2022 policy memo, a bill that would prohibit the construction of new fossil fuel combustion systems in buildings from 2024. However, evidence suggests the BCNYS stated support for New York’s Utility Thermal Energy Network and Jobs Act in a May 2022 policy memo. This bill would promote a low carbon thermal energy network technology.