Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL) engages negatively on climate policy. The company advocates for increasing oil and gas production in Canada and advocates against emissions regulations. (See note below on Canadian Natural’s response to Canada’s Competition Act Amendments and how it impacts this assessment.)
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Canadian Natural’s top-line messaging on climate change shows a mix of both positive and negative positioning. The company’s website, accessed in July 2023, supported the goals of the Paris Agreement and GHG emissions reductions in line with 2°C, including efforts to limit temperature increase to 1.5°C. However, these positions are no longer accessible as of October 2024.
Evidence suggests that the company may not fully support climate policies. In a November 2023 article from The Globe and Mail, Canadian Natural’s then-President, Tim McKay, raised concerns about increasing climate change regulations in Canada, stating that “rapid policy changes” are “difficult to work with.”
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Canadian Natural engages negatively on climate-related regulations in Canada. The company appeared unsupportive of Canada’s methane regulations for the oil and gas sector in February 2024 consultation comments: Canadian Natural criticized the restrictions on flaring and venting and advocated to weaken the frequency of the fugitive emissions survey requirements. In March 2024, Canadian Natural sent a joint industry letter to the Canadian Minister of Environment and Climate Change calling for the withdrawal of the proposed Oil & Gas Emissions Cap. Reports by media outlets also show that the senior leadership of the company has criticized the Oil & Gas Emissions Cap, for instance in November 2023 and May 2024.
Canadian Natural has offered high-level support for a carbon tax in Canada, including Canada's Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, as evident in its 2023 CDP response, but its support appeared contingent on allowances for energy-intensive industries. Similar conditions were placed on the company’s support for Alberta’s Technology Innovation Emissions Reduction (TIER) program, which implements an emissions trading system for industrial facilities, as per the company’s 2023 CDP climate change response.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Canadian Natural promotes a long-term role for oil and gas in Canada. In a consultation comment to the Canadian government in February 2024, Canadian Natural advocated for increasing oil and gas production, while in a March 2024 letter to policymakers, the company raised concerns around reductions in fossil fuel production. The company also noted its advocacy for the expansion of oil and gas markets in the Alberta Lobbyist Registry in July 2023.
Canadian Natural appears to advocate for incentives for the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS), however, the company’s support for CCS appears to be predicated on an increasing role for fossil fuels in the energy mix. For instance, a May 2024 Reuters article reported that the company’s President, Scott Stauth, advocated for government financial support for CCS projects to expand oil production in Canada.
Industry Association Governance: Canadian Natural offers limited transparency in its industry association memberships and does not appear to have undertaken a review of its industry association memberships and climate policy engagement. The company holds memberships to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), the Mining Association of Canada, and Offshore Energies UK, all of which engage negatively on climate-related policy. The company is also one of the six founding members of the Pathways Alliance, which has opposed the Oil & Gas Emissions Cap and advocated for funding for CCUS to maintain oil and gas production in Canada.
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 Q4 2024.
Note: As of June 2024, Canadian Natural has withdrawn parts of the website that communicated about climate change. A new release on its website attributes this to the “uncertainty” from Competition Act Amendments in Canada. Therefore, any InfluenceMap assessment of evidence taken from the Canadian Natural’s website or social media communications assessed in this profile should be considered as a reflection of the entity’s climate policy positions up to June 2024. InfluenceMap will continue to produce assessments of Canadian Natural’s climate policy engagement using other data sources, as outlined in our methodology.