Responsible Policy Engagement Analysis

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. The Blueprint, released in 2020, outlines tactics companies must adopt in order to: 

• Assess their climate-related business risks 

• Systematize decision-making for climate risks 

• Advocate in support of Paris-aligned policy, and 

• Engage trade associations to support Paris-aligned policy 

Our analysis 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. 

Despite the progress on climate-related lobbying, the analysis still found signs of weakness in this area. For example: 

• While 50% of companies have lobbied for Paris-aligned policy, that pales in comparison to the 93% that acknowledge climate change represents a material risk to their businesses. That means many companies are not supporting policies that would protect their own corporate interests. It is also lags the 65% of companies that have acknowledged the need for Paris-aligned climate policies, meaning many companies are not actively advocating for the very policies they say the U.S. needs. 

• The most ambitious federal climate legislation in U.S. history, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, was only publicly championed and celebrated by 11% of the assessed companies as it was introduced and passed over the summer. (However, at least 19 additional S&P 100 companies championed its climate provisions in the months ahead of the bill’s introduction.) 

• 29% of the companies still lobbied against certain Paris-aligned policies in recent years. That figure includes some companies that lobbied in support of other such policies, painting a complex picture of the corporate climate lobbying landscape. 

Most notably, companies are very rarely holding their own large trade organizations accountable for their histories of obstructing ambitious climate policy, according to the Ceres analysis. While the vast 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 that they have taken action to try to change their trade groups’ positions (3%).