Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) appears to have limited engagement on climate policy. Despite the company’s predominantly positive top-line communications on climate action, it does not appear to support the energy transition and has advocated for the continued role of fossil fuels in the future energy mix.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: ADNOC’s top-line messaging on climate policy appears to be predominantly positive. The company stated support for the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative in a report titled Advancing Towards Net Zero Delivering Progress, published in July 2023. In the same report, the company stated support for the goals of the Paris Agreement. Despite this support, in December 2023 CBS News reported that the company CEO H.E. Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber said, “there is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says the phase-out of fossil fuel is what's going to achieve 1.5”. Moreover, he also appeared to stress the need to balance emissions reductions with economic viability in emerging nations in a January 2021 press release. In this release, Al Jaber also appeared to suggest the need for climate policies should be balanced with broader economic development and funding challenges.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: ADNOC appears to have limited transparent engagement with specific items of climate regulation and legislation. The company does not appear to directly disclose its positions towards, or engagement with, any climate-related policy in its corporate reporting. However, InfluenceMap did identify broad support for energy efficiency, without referencing any energy efficiency legislations, including in a report titled Advancing Towards Net Zero Delivering Progress, published in July 2023.
Positioning on Energy Transition: ADNOC does not appear to support the energy transition, and often advocates in favor of a continued role for fossil fuels in the future energy mix, notably oil and gas. For example, in a November 2023 interview to Time Magazine, CEO Al Jaber advocated for “phase-down” of fossil fuels, however, he also emphasized the world would rely on them “well into the future”. Al Jaber also cited “long-term under-investment in oil and gas” as a key factor in the recent energy market crisis in a March 2022 press release.
ADNOC has increasingly publicized its support for carbon capture and storage (CCS/CCUS) technologies in 2021-2023, including in a report titled Advancing Towards Net Zero Delivering Progress, published in July 2023. The company’s CEO Al Jaber stated that "renewable energies are not and cannot be the only answer ... if we are serious about curbing industrial emissions, we need to get serious about carbon capture technologies" in a May 2023 France 24 media article. ADNOC’s support for these technologies often appears without mentioning the need to transition to a fully net-zero energy and industry in line with IPCC pathways.
ADNOC appears to support the role of low-carbon fuels in decarbonizing the economy. For example, the company’s CEO Al Jaber stated support for the UAE’s National Hydrogen Strategy in a July 2023 Twitter post. Al Jaber also cited the US Inflation Reduction Act’s measures for hydrogen and CCS technologies, in a call for greater market incentives for decarbonization technologies in a March 2023 S&P Global article. In a July 2021 press release, the company appeared to support the use of low-carbon ammonia, with carbon capture, across transportation, power and industrial sectors.
Industry Association Governance: ADNOC appears to disclose some of its memberships to industry associations like International Association of Oil and Gas Producers and IPIECA. However, it fails to disclose its membership in Hydrogen Council. Moreover, a subsidiary of ADNOC, (ADGAS) is a member of International Gas Union. The company has not published a review of alignment with positions of its industry association, including details of the company's role within each organization's governing bodies nor their climate change policy positions. These industry associations have advocated negatively on the energy transition, in favor of a continued role for fossil fuels.
Additional Note: ADNOC is headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, where InfluenceMap’s LobbyMap platform can currently only make a provisional assessment of corporate climate policy engagement, due to limited capability to access publicly available data on this issue. As it is possible that InfluenceMap is not yet able to fully capture evidence of ADNOC's climate policy engagement activities, these scores should be considered provisional at this time.
In addition, ADNOC is a listed company with more than 50% of its shares owned by the government of Abu Dhabi. State-owned enterprises likely retain channels of direct and private engagement with government officials that InfluenceMap is unable to assess, and therefore are not represented in ADNOC's engagement intensity metric.
This summary was updated in Q4 2024.