Statement of Resource Person, Dylan Tanner
6 November 2018
and European utility RWE’s opposition to 2030 German coal phase out
plans with regards to the country’s Coal Exit Commission.27
7. InfluenceMap research shows, therefore, that of the Carbon Majors covered
under its system, most are actively lobbying in opposition to the
development of climate motivated policy. These findings reflect recent
academic research in this field. For example, Delmas et al.’s 2016 study
demonstrates correlation between high carbon-emitting corporations and
companies lobbying extensively on climate legislation.28
8. Based on the background outlined in sections (4) and (5) and using
InfluenceMap analysis conducted from 2015-17, InfluenceMap introduced
the concept of the Corporate Carbon Policy Footprint.29 This argues that a
company’s impact on climate policy may be just as critical as its physical
emissions (if not more so in many cases) in terms of global progress in
addressing climate change.30
9. The methodology used three factors in combination to determine which
companies are most influential in global climate policy progress. The first
two factors are assessed by InfluenceMap’s system – a company’s Total
Score (representing its stance on climate policy) and the Engagement
Intensity (representing the level of lobbying it is conducting). The third is
an external measure of the economic influence the company has.31
10. The results indicated that, while a large proportion of the world’s 250 largest
companies have limited involvement in the climate policy debate (e.g. they
are in sectors relatively unaffected directly by climate regulations, such as
retail, finance, healthcare etc.), a relatively small group of 35 are responsible
for the bulk of negative influencing. These companies include Carbon
Majors in this Petition: Anglo American, BHP, BP, ConocoPhillips, ENI,
ExxonMobil, HeidelbergCement, Occidental Petroleum, Royal Dutch Shell
and Total.
11. Other studies have also pointed to the dominance of the fossil fuel value
chain when it comes to corporate influencing on climate change motivated
regulations. For example, Robert Brulle’s 2018 sectoral analysis of lobbying
in the United States found that lobbying spending by fossil fuel value chain
companies on climate legislation dwarfs that of environmental and
renewable energy companies.32
27
RWE head Schmitz says German coal exit by 2030 is impossible, Clean Energy Wire, June 2018; RWE will seek damages if Germany shuts coal
plants abruptly, Reuters, October 2018
28
Corporate environmental performance and lobbying, Academy of Management Discoveries 2(2):175–197, Delmas M, Lim J, Nairn-Birch N, 2016
29
Corporate Carbon Policy Footprint - the 50 Most Influential, InfluenceMap, September 2017
30
These Companies Are Most Influential in Climate Policy Debates, Bloomberg, Eric Roston, September 2017
31
External metric based on aggregation of company total sales, profits, assets and market capitalization.
32
The climate lobby: a sectoral analysis of lobbying spending on climate change in the USA, 2000 to 2016, Robert Brulle, pringer Nature B.V.,
2018
8