We have expanded the list of climate policies we assess company engagement with to incorporate land-use related policy, referring to legislative or regulatory measures to enhance and protect ecosystems and land where carbon is being stored. Assessments under this category are currently underweighted in terms of their contribution to the overall company metrics. This weighting will be progressively increased over the next 6 months.
We adjusted the terminology used to describe the queries running down the left-hand side of our scoring matrix and added additional explanatory text to the info-boxes. This has no impact on the scores and methodology. It has been done following user feedback to improve clarity.
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
Damien Nicks, Chief Executive Officer of AGL, is on the board of directors of the Australian Energy Council (Up to date as of April 2023)
not specified
--no extract--
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
Graeme Hunt, Interim Managing Director and CEO at AGL Energy, is on the Board of Directors of the Australian Energy Council (Correct as of July 2022)
Graeme Hunt
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
Brett Redman, Chief Executive of AGL Energy, is Chair of the Board of Directors of the Australian Energy Council
Brett Redman
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
Damien Nicks, Chief Executive Officer of AGL, is on the board of directors of the Australian Energy Council (Up to date as of April 2023)
not specified
--no extract--
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
Graeme Hunt, Interim Managing Director and CEO at AGL Energy, is on the Board of Directors of the Australian Energy Council (Correct as of July 2022)
Graeme Hunt
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
Brett Redman, Chief Executive of AGL Energy, is Chair of the Board of Directors of the Australian Energy Council
Brett Redman
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
AGL Energy is one of 15 lead members and one of over 100 direct members of APGA (Correct as of Jan 2022)
not specified
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
AGL Energy is one of 15 lead members and one of over 100 direct members of APGA (Correct as of Jan 2022)
not specified
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
Jane Buter, Head of Product, Strategy and New Technology at AGL is on the board of directors of the Energy Efficiency Council (last updated May 2023)
not specified
--no extract--
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
Jane Buter, Head of Product, Strategy and New Technology at AGL is on the board of directors of the Energy Efficiency Council (last updated May 2023)
not specified
--no extract--
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
AGL Australia is one of between 20-100 direct members of the Electric Vehicle Council (Last updated February 2023)
not specified
--no extract--
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
AGL Australia is one of between 20-100 direct members of the Electric Vehicle Council (Last updated February 2023)
not specified
--no extract--
In this section, we depict graphically the relationships the corporation has with trade associations, federations, advocacy groups and other third parties who may be acting on their behalf to influence climate change policy. Each of the columns above represents one relationship the corporation appears to have with such a third party. In these columns, the top, dark section represents the strength of the relationship the corporation has with the influencer. For example if a corporation's senior executive also held a key role in the trade association, we would deem this to be a strong relationship and it would be on the far left of the chart above, with the weaker ones to the right. Click on these grey shaded upper sections for details of these relationships. The middle section contains a link to the organization score details of the influencer concerned, so you can see the details of its climate change policy influence. Click on the middle sections for for details of the trade associations. The lower section contains the organization score of that influencer, the lower the more negatively it is influencing climate policy.
Open PDF file of Data Source
Climate Lobbying Overview: AGL Australia appears to have mixed engagement on climate policy in Australia, although it appears to be improving as of late. The company appears to recognize the need to respond to climate change and appears to support progressive policy at the federal level in Australia, but its position on the long-term role for fossil fuels in the energy mix appears misaligned with IPCC guidelines.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: AGL’s top-line messaging on climate policy appears to be broadly supportive of ambitious climate action in Australia. In a September 2022 legislative consultation submission, the company declared support for net-zero emissions by 2050. In AGL's Climate Transition Action Plan published in September 2022, the company stated that it supported policy action from governments to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, including support for policies for other sectors of the economy.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: AGL appears to be highly engaged with climate-related policies in Australia with mixed support. In September 2022, the company appeared to support ambitious reform of the Safeguard Mechanism in a consultation response. For example, it supported declining baselines in line with Australia's emissions targets, the resetting of baselines and did not support provisions for emissions intensive-trade exposed facilities within the policy. The company also appeared to broadly support the introduction of ambitious Australian CO2 emission standards for light-duty vehicles in its consultation response on the National EV Strategy in November 2022. However, the company appears less supportive of state-level policy, in a November 2022 consultation response on the New South Wales' Environmental Protection Agency's Climate Change Policy and Action Plan, AGL appeared to not support proposed sector-wide greenhouse gas emissions targets, stressing the effects on thermal power facilities. In June 2022, the company responded to Victoria's consultation on its 2035 emissions reduction target, in which it appeared to not support the setting of an ambitious target. It emphasized economic considerations when forming the target and appeared to not support state-level targets as they were 'less efficient' and 'more costly' than federal targets, adding a national approach was 'highly preferable'.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Although AGL has expressed top-line support for the transition of the energy mix on its corporate website, it has shown mixed support for specific policy measures intended to aid this transition. For example, AGL responded to the 2021 Gas Fired Recovery Plan Consultation, stating that it was desirable for unabated fossil gas to have a greater role in the energy mix, contrary to IPCC science. Nevertheless, the company appeared to support policy to aid the rapid phase-out of thermal power generators within its September 2022 Climate Transition Action Plan.
AGL has also taken positive positions on decarbonizing the transport sector. For example, in a November 2022 consultation response, AGL appeared to support a National EV Strategy for Australia and in October 2021, AGL advocated for the removal of the road-user charge on EVs in its consultation response to the Victorian government’s zero emission vehicle roadmap.
Industry Association Governance: AGL has disclosed its membership of industry associations actively lobbying on climate policy and published a review of its industry association memberships to assess alignment on climate change policy, however this was published in May 2020 and no update appears to have been published. This review lacked detail regarding the climate positions of its industry associations, how alignment was assessed, and the framework for addressing potential cases of misalignment. There is evidence that AGL has sought to improve its indirect impact on climate policy: AGL left APPEA and Minerals Council of Australia in 2016 after citing differences in their positioning on climate and energy. It also ended its membership of the Queensland Resources Council in June 2020, again citing differences over views on the energy transition. However, AGL retains membership of the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Energy Council, and Australian Pipelines and Gas Association, all of whom have mixed engagement on Australian climate legislation.
A detailed assessment of the company's corporate review on 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 Q1 2023.