Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
On 1st July 2024, CRH acquired 57% of the ordinary shares of Adbri. To reflect this development, evidence assessed under Adbri’s profile will now contribute to InfluenceMap’s metrics for CRH.
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: Adbri (formerly Adelaide Brighton) has a high level of engagement with climate policy. The company appears to support the introduction of a carbon border adjustment mechanism in Australia yet displays largely negative positions on Australia’s Safeguard Mechanism reforms. While Adbri demonstrates limited engagement on the energy transition, it maintains membership to the Cement Industry Federation, which actively promotes a sustained role for fossil gas in the energy mix.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Adbri’s top-line messaging on climate policy is positive. In its 2023 Sustainability Report, published February 2024, the company advocated for the goals of the Paris Agreement to be pursued with increased ambition and recognized the need for government regulation to respond to climate change. In addition, the company supported a zero-emissions economy in Australia by 2050 in a February 2023 consultation submission.
Engagement with Climate-Related Policy: Adbri’s engagement with climate-related policy appears to be limited to Australia’s Safeguard Mechanism (SGM) reforms and the introduction of an Australian carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM). While Adbri communicated top-line support for the ambition of the SGM reforms in its 2023 Sustainability Report, the company advocated for a range of modifications that risk undermining the climate ambition of the policy in its February 2023 consultation submission on the reforms. For example, Adbri suggested that the proposed baseline decline rates were not technologically feasible for the company and advocated for the allowance of “much longer multi-year monitoring periods.” In addition, in a February 2023 news article, the CEO of Adbri, Mark Irwin, emphasized the risk of carbon leakage that the company associates with the SGM and the potential impact on sovereign manufacturing capability.
Adbri consistently supported the introduction of an Australian CBAM as a response to the potential risk of carbon leakage that it associates with the SGM. As reported in an April 2023 news article in the Australian Financial Review, Adbri CEO Mark Irwin noted that the implementation of a CBAM would “minimize the risk of carbon leakage.” In addition, in its February 2023 consultation submission on the SGM reforms, Adbri stated that “in an ideal world,” the implementation of a CBAM in Australia would coincide with the implementation of the proposed reforms.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Adbri displays limited messaging on the energy transition. In an April 2024 LinkedIn post, the CEO of Adbri, Mark Irwin, welcomed the role of the Australian Government’s Powering the Regions Fund in accelerating the decarbonisation of emissions-intensive hard-to-abate industries. In addition, Adbri appeared to support the use of carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies to decarbonize the cement sector in a February 2023 consultation submission. However, the company also emphasized that such technologies are unlikely to be commercially viable until after 2035.
Industry Association Governance: Adbri has disclosed a partial list of its industry associations in its 2023 Sustainability Report but does not provide details on each group’s climate policy positions. The company is a member of the Cement Industry Federation, which advocates for policies to support increased fossil gas supply, and the Carbon Market Institute, which engages positively on a range of Australian climate policies.
InfluenceMap collects and assesses evidence of corporate climate policy engagement on a weekly basis, depending on the availability of information from each specific data source (for more information see our methodology). While this analysis flows through to the company’s scores each week, the summary above is updated periodically.
This summary was last updated in Q3 2024.