Cannabis industry group pushes 'green seal' and tax credits

ALBANY — A certification process highlighting energy-efficient cannabis cultivators and a tax credit to complement it are key sustainability proposals of an industry white paper released Tuesday by New York’s Castetter Cannabis Group. The paper also called for state regulators to develop a strategy for data collection and analysis of license holders’ operations.

Its recommendations reinforce lawmakers’ urgency to minimize harm to the the state’s fledgling industry, but suggest a divergent strategy centered on incentives rather than efficiency limits.

“We’re advocating for a performance-based approach,” said Kate Hruby, the group’s lead policy analyst and co-author of the paper.