Marijuana cultivators in New York have until Aug. 31, 2025, to submit sustainability plans to regulators as part of an initiative to lessen the environmental impact of the state’s bourgeoning cannabis industry.
According to plans revealed Tuesday, New York’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) will begin monitoring how efficiently cultivators are growing marijuana and whether they are meeting state energy mandates that other industries must adhere to, Spectrum News 1 reported.
To help cultivators with sustainability monitoring, in the first week of September, the OCM will roll out PowerScore, a free online tool for helping track electricity, water use and waste.
“You can’t improve what you don’t measure and you can’t track what you don’t measure,” the agency’s director of policy, John Kagia, said Tuesday during the state Cannabis Advisory Board’s regular meeting, according to Spectrum News 1.
State regulators around the country have placed greater importance on sustainability over the years, but implementing and enforcing rules has been challenging.
OCM officials also encouraged growers to use LED lights and reduce water usage and waste.
Kagia told the Cannabis Advisory Board it’s important that growers find ways to be energy-efficient while not driving up product costs that could hurt the competitiveness of legal shops against the illicit market.
“We’re very intentional, very conscious about trying to keep the cost down, because this is already a high-cost state to operate in,” Kagia said, according to Spectrum News 1.
There are currently 165 licensed adult-use retailers operating in New York, where “legal sales have grown 2% week-over-week in August,” the news outlet reported.
