Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: Orica demonstrates active policy engagement that is partially aligned with policy pathways aiming to deliver the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement. While the company’s recent transparent engagement with climate-related policy in Australia appears to be largely limited to advocacy for the introduction of a carbon border adjustment mechanism, it adopts largely negative positions on the energy transition, generally promoting a long-term role for fossil gas in the energy mix.
Top-Line Messaging on Climate Policy: Orica’s top-line messaging on climate policy is positive. In its Climate Action Report 2024, published November 2024, the company supported the goals of the Paris Agreement and achieving net zero emissions by 2050. In addition, the company reiterated the importance of creating the “right policy settings” to achieve significant emissions reductions across the economy in a July 2024 media release.
Engagement with Climate-Related Policies: Orica’s transparent engagement with climate-related policy in Australia is positive yet appears to be largely limited to carbon border adjustment mechanisms (CBAM) in recent years. The company supported the introduction of an Australian CBAM to prevent carbon leakage in its Climate Action Report 2024, while Chief Executive Sanjeev Gandhi reiterated the need for carbon border tariffs to protect industry in Australia in a May 2024 Australian Financial Review article. In addition, Orica appeared to support Australia’s Safeguard Mechanism (SGM) reforms in a July 2024 media release. However, the company displayed more qualified support for the reforms during the government consultation process. While Orica welcomed the introduction of declining baselines in the SGM aligned with the country’s emissions reduction targets in a January 2023 consultation submission, it also consistently advocated extending ‘deemed surrender’ provisions beyond the proposed two years, for example in its February 2023 consultation submission on the reforms.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Orica adopts largely negative positions on the energy transition, generally promoting a long-term role for fossil gas in the energy mix. Although Group Executive and President, Australia Pacific and Sustainability, Germán Morales appeared to support government intervention to facilitate a transition toward renewables in a November 2024 article in The Australian, he also emphasized the need for access to fossil gas to enable the energy transition and technologies such as renewable hydrogen. Similarly, Chief Executive Sanjeev Gandhi communicated broad support for the transition to a low-carbon economy in his December 2024 Annual General Meeting speech yet qualified this support by emphasizing the need for renewable energy to be competitive and by stressing the critical role of fossil gas in the transition. Along the same lines, Sanjeev Gandhi also stressed concerns about a potential fossil gas shortfall in Australia in a May 2025 The Australian article and advocated for policy to ensure companies can gain access to gas.
Industry Association Governance: Orica has disclosed a review of its alignment with its industry associations in its Industry Association Review 2023 and a brief update to this in its Climate Action Report 2024. In its review, Orica found material misalignment between its positions on climate and the climate-related advocacy of one of its industry associations, FutureCoal (formerly World Coal Association), as well as partial misalignment of two of its industry associations: the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) and Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia (CME). While Orica discontinued its membership in FutureCoal in 2023, it retains membership to several associations that display oppositional advocacy on specific climate policies in Australia, including the Energy Users Association of Australia and NSW Minerals Council.
A detailed assessment of the company's review of its climate policy engagement can be found on InfluenceMap's CA100+ Investor Hub here.
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 2025.