Climate Lobbying Overview: CLP Holdings (CLP) appears broadly supportive of ambitious action on climate change in its top-line messaging, and has engaged in mixed but increasingly positive lobbying on climate regulation. However, the company appears less supportive of state-level climate policy and has also supported a sustained role for fossil fuels in the energy mix. Evidence for this entity has also been collected through one of it's wholly owned subsidiaries, Energy Australia.

Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: CLP’s top line messaging on climate change has been broadly positive. CLP supported the need to limit global temperature increases to 1.5°C in December 2019 under its Climate Vision 2050 report. In March 2019, Chairman Sir Michael Kadoorie also called on countries to increase the ambition of their pledges under the Paris Agreement. However, from 2016-2020, CLP has consistently stated its preference for the implementation of a national climate and energy policy in Australia, at the expense of state-level legislation. However, a CLP submission on the NSW Energy Security Target in June 2020 acknowledged the importance of the leadership and policy direction provided by Australian state jurisdictions in the absence of bipartisan progress at national level.

Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: CLP has actively engaged in mixed and often contradictory lobbying on renewable energy legislation in recent years. In 2019, CLP advocated the continuation of Australia’s federal Renewable Energy Target (RET) to retain policy stability and provide unambiguous investment signals. However, in a 2018 consultation on the design of the National Energy Guarantee, CLP opposed the continuation of the RET beyond 2020 as well as state-level renewable energy schemes in Australia.

Beyond renewable energy legislation, CLP’s recent advocacy on climate policy has been generally positive. In 2019-2020, CLP directly advocated to policy makers in Australia to support energy efficiency legislation at the federal level as well as state level schemes such as the NSW Energy Security Target. In 2018-19, CLP also expressed top line support for Australia’s landmark emissions policies under the Safeguard Mechanism and National Energy Guarantee, although occasionally at the expense of more ambitious state-level emissions targets.

Positioning on Energy Transition: CLP appears broadly supportive of the need to transition the energy mix. In 2020, the company called on the Australian government to subsidize battery storage to accelerate the transition to renewables. However, CLP consistently qualifies its support for the energy transition with the need to protect energy security, reliability and affordability. In 2019, CLP emphasized the importance of fossil fuels including coal to the energy mix in both developing economies such as India and China, as well as developed economies such as Australia.

Industry Association Governance: CLP has not disclosed a full list of its industry association memberships, nor has it published a full audit disclosure. For example, CLP does not disclose its membership to the Minerals Council of Australia, which has lobbied extensively against progressive climate policy in Australia.