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)
Alcoa is one of 83 direct members of the Chamber of Energy and Minerals of Western Australia (CME website, up-to-date November 2022)
not specified
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InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
Alcoa is one of 83 direct members of the Chamber of Energy and Minerals of Western Australia (CME website, up-to-date November 2022)
not specified
--no extract--
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
Alcoa is a direct member of AIGN (as of February 2023)
not specified
--no extract--
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
Alcoa is an indirect member of AIGN through the Australian Aluminium Council
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
Alcoa is a direct member of AIGN (as of February 2023)
not specified
--no extract--
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
Alcoa is an indirect member of AIGN through the Australian Aluminium Council
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: Alcoa appears broadly supportive of action on climate change and has engaged positively on specific regulations in the US and Australia, although the company has disclosed limited information regarding its engagement with climate policy.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Alcoa has expressed support for the goals of the Paris Agreement and the need for an "urgent global response" to limit temperatures to below 2ºC in its 2020 Climate Change Policy. In the same document, Alcoa also appears to support government policy to respond to climate change, but generally favors market-based mechanisms with flexibility for emissions-intensive trade-exposed (EITE) industries.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Alcoa's 2020 Climate Change policy states that a cap and trade system is the best way to address climate change as "it pre-defines the emission reduction outcome within the trading period". The company's 2018 CDP submission states it has actively engaged on schemes in the US, Canada, Europe and Australia, although no further details of this engagement is provided. From 2017-2020, Alcoa has also been active in the development of fuel efficiency standards such as CAFE in the US. Alcoa's 2019 Sustainability Report states that the company has engaged with the Australian government regarding changes to the Safeguard Mechanism and the company appears to support the changes made to the policy in March 2019, which weaken the Safeguard Mechanism through increasing baselines to reflect current production levels.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Alcoa appears generally supportive of the transition of the energy mix. In a 2019 consultation on Australia's National Hydrogen Strategy, Alcoa appeared to support low emission technologies to increase the uptake of renewables in the energy mix. However, in 2020 Alcoa directly advocated for US regulators to lower utility rates in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, reducing the funds available for clean energy programs.
Industry Association Governance: Alcoa has links to two industry associations that have actively opposed meaningful climate change policy: the Business Council of Australia and Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA. However, Alcoa does not disclose a full list of its industry association memberships and indirect climate-related lobbying activities, nor has it published a full audit disclosure of its industry links.