Companies are improving as climate policy advocates, but they aren't holding their trade associations accountable

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Nov 01, 2022, 06:00 ET

BOSTON, Nov. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As major companies evolve their climate-related corporate and policy engagement practices to meet investor demands, the nation's largest publicly traded companies are increasingly lobbying for policies to help the U.S. achieve its Paris Agreement commitments. However, few are publicly reckoning with the role of their trade associations in obstructing climate action, according to a new report released by the sustainability nonprofit Ceres.

The report, "Responsible Policy Engagement Analysis 2022: How Companies Are — and Aren't — Leading on Climate Policy," examines the climate-related risk management, governance and lobbying practices of more than 100 S&P 100 companies. (The report analyzed 104 companies that comprised the S&P 100 during 2021 and 2022.) It found significant progress compared to last year in the number of large, publicly traded companies advocating for climate action, as half of the benchmarked companies lobbied in support of at least one Paris-aligned climate policy during the last three years.

Intended to help companies find their voice as climate advocates and give investors actionable insight into best practices and performers, the Ceres Responsible Policy Engagement Analysis 2022 benchmarks S&P 100 companies against the expectations laid out in the Ceres Blueprint for Responsible Policy Engagement on Climate Change .

In addition to analyzing companies against these expectations, Ceres released an interactive database to assess and compare companies' performance on a series of critical metrics.

Despite the progress on climate-related lobbying, the analysis found significant gaps on the part of companies in this area. Most notably, companies are rarely holding their own large trade organizations accountable for their histories of obstructing ambitious climate policy. While the majority of S&P 100 companies are members of organizations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, only 8% have publicly assessed those organizations' climate policies. Even fewer have publicly acknowledged the organizations' history of obstruction (5%) or disclosed they have taken action to try to change their trade groups' positions (3%).

"Until this misalignment is addressed, corporate leadership on climate policy will continue to represent a significant weakness in the U.S. business community's growing efforts to lead the transition to a clean, resilient, and sustainable economy," the analysis reads.

Editor's Note: The results of the analysis and other relevant issues will be discussed at a Nov. 30 Ceres webinar, "Beyond Rhetoric: The Case for Responsible Policy Engagement." Registration is open here.

Media Contacts : Helen Booth-Tobin, Reginald Zimmerman,

Original Publication

SOURCE Ceres