Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: AstraZeneca is strategically and positively engaged with climate policy in Europe and Japan. The company strongly supports transport decarbonisation policies in the EU, including the CO2 standards for light- and heavy-duty vehicles, and advocates for a phase-out of fossil fuels in the energy mix. It also supports greater ambition in Japan’s Green Transformation (GX) Policy. The company retains membership to industry associations with some negative engagement, including the National Business Association of Colombia (ANDI) and the European Round Table for Industry (ERT).
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: AstraZeneca’s top-line messaging on climate change is positive. In a December 2023 joint letter to the Swedish government, the company supported limiting global temperatures in line with 1.5°C. It further advocated for accelerating the implementation of effective carbon pricing systems, in the Japan Climate Initiative, published in December 2023. AstraZeneca supported more ambitious nationally determined contributions (NDCs) in the buildup to COP29, in an October 2024 joint letter.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: AstraZeneca is supportive of climate change regulations, including the EU 2040 Climate Target, the EU’s CO2 standards for light- and heavy-duty vehicles and advocates for ambitious climate policies in Japan, primarily through open letters. In a March 2023 joint letter submitted to the European Commission, AstraZeneca supported a stringent EU 2035 zero-emissions CO2 target for light-duty vehicles and opposed an e-fuels loophole in the agreement. The company also supported the EU's CO2 standards for light-/medium-duty and heavy-duty vehicles in a July 2024 joint letter. AstraZeneca signed a joint letter in December 2023 calling for the EU to achieve climate neutrality by 2040 and increase emissions reductions to meet its 2030 targets. The company advocated for a global renewables target to be set at COP28 to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030, in a September 2023 joint letter.
AstraZeneca backed climate-related regulations in Japan through a message released by the Japan Climate Initiative in April 2023, strongly supporting the early and more effective introduction of a carbon levy and a more ambitious emission trading system under the Green Transformation (GX) Policy. AstraZeneca also supported the introduction of more effective measures and regulatory reforms to accelerate the introduction of renewable energy, in the same April 2023 message.
Positioning on Energy Transition: AstraZeneca is supportive of measures to transition the energy mix, including targets to decarbonize light- and heavy-duty vehicles in the EU, and climate investments both in the EU and US. In a February 2023 joint open letter to the European Commission, AstraZeneca supported a more ambitious Greening Corporate Fleets Initiative, promoting a binding 2030 zero-emission purchase target for corporate fleets, and ambitious targets on EV charging infrastructure in the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation. The company signed a joint letter in October 2023 in support of the climate investments in the Inflation Reduction Act and the EU Green Deal Industrial Plan.
AstraZeneca supported the urgent decarbonization of the power sector, advocating for the removal of fossil fuel subsidies and repurposing those resources toward clean energy measures in an October 2023 joint letter. The company supported an ambitious phase out of fossil fuels in the EU, with a coal phase out by 2030, fossil gas by mid-2030s and oil by 2040 in a December 2023 joint letter to the Swedish government.
Industry Association Governance: AstraZeneca has not disclosed a list of industry association memberships nor detailed their climate policy engagement activities on its corporate website. The company has not published a review of its industry association memberships and climate policy engagement. AstraZeneca is a member of multiple industry associations engaged on climate-related policy with broadly positive positions, including but not limited to Eurelectric, the Japan Climate Leaders Partnership (JCLP), and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). However, it retains membership to the National Business Association of Colombia (ANDI), which takes predominantly negative stances on the transition away from fossil fuels and key climate legislation. AstraZeneca is also a member of the European Round Table for Industry (ERT), which has consistently advocated to weaken carbon pricing policies in the EU and emphasized the risks of deindustrialization from climate action in Europe in 2024.
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 2025.