Climate Policy Engagement Overview: The American Chemistry Council (ACC) is actively engaged on climate policy at the international level, with frequent engagement on policy related to plastics and the circular economy. ACC’s top-line messaging on climate policy emphasizes its support for market-based approaches over other forms of government regulation. The group advocates on climate policy related to emissions regulation and the energy transition with largely negative positions.

Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: ACC demonstrates generally unsupportive top-line messaging on climate policy, with limited evidence in recent years. In its Policy Recommendations for a Lower Emissions Future, published in October 2022 and current as of August 2024, ACC appears to support an economy-wide price on carbon, but with several major qualifications that suggest limited support for government regulation; ACC emphasizes that any carbon pricing scheme should be market-based and “ensure the business of chemistry remains competitive,” “displace performance standards,” and “preempt state climate laws.” Also in October 2022, ACC stated general support for the Paris Agreement in a tweet, but without mention of the specific goals contained within the Agreement.

Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: ACC advocates on climate policy with broadly negative positions. While the group has communicated support for policies that support a circular economy for plastics, its engagement activities demonstrate more negative positions. ACC was cited in a June 2024 press release by American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) announcing the groups’ joint statement criticizing the General Services Administration's (GSA) final rule on the reduction of single-use plastic packaging. The statement called the final rule “misguided,” and instead called for “material-neutral criteria” that promotes recycling over reduction strategies. In a March 2024 letter to President Biden, ACC conveyed support for developing an international agreement to manage plastic waste, while simultaneously opposing several mechanisms toward achieving such goals, emphasizing the need to avoid policy measures, such as materials restrictions or chemical bans, that would “jeopardize the many benefits plastics provide to the economy and the environment.”

ACC appears to similarly advocate in opposition to emissions regulation policy. The group’s Q2 2024 Senate Lobbying Report reveals that it directly advocated for “Congressional disapproval” of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) New Source Performance Standards for Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric Generating Units.

Positioning on Energy Transition: ACC largely opposes measures to transition the energy mix, and appears to support a long-term role for fossil fuels. The group has been a vocal opponent of ambitious application of the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) Section 45V Clean Hydrogen Production Tax Credit, seeking to weaken standards of the provision designed to ensure the highest degree of decarbonization by calling for an “all-of-the-above energy and manufacturing sector abatement strategy that reduces emissions not options” in February 2024 comments to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). In its comments, ACC directly advocated for the continued role of fossil gas in hydrogen production, arguing that “there should be no restrictions on natural gas (RNG) to ensure investor confidence in developing RNG supply.” The group further advanced this position in March 2024 testimony to the IRS, calling parts of the tax credit framework “bad policy” while supporting eligibility “for clean hydrogen production using renewable natural gas.”

ACC has also been highly active on the EPA’s proposed power plant rules under Clean Air Act Section 111, with similarly oppositional positions. The group was a signatory to December 2023 coalition comments that suggested the Agency was acting outside of its legal boundary, calling the rules “an unlawful proposal that jeopardizes the reliability and affordability of the nation’s power.” This argument was also used in a previous submission of coalition comments signed by ACC in August 2023 that criticized the EPA’s rules as “an indirect way to achieve generation shifting from fossil fuels to renewables, an approach to reducing emissions that was struck down by the Supreme Court in West Virginia v. EPA.”

ACC has also demonstrated opposition to policies aimed at electrifying transportation. The group’s Q2 2024 Senate Lobbying Report reveals direct advocacy calling for the repeal of the Affordable Clean Energy Rule and “Congressional disapproval” of Clean Vehicle Credits under Sections 25E and 30D of the United States Code. In July 2023 comments on the EPA’s Emissions Standards for Model Years 2027 and Later Light and Medium-Duty Vehicles, ACC stated that internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles and carbon-based liquid fuels “will continue to play an important role” in the US transportation sector.

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 Q3 2024.