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)
CNRL is one of the members of the Mining Association of Canada and a senior executive at CNRL, Shawn Neilson, Vice President of Mining (Albian Sands) sits on the board of directors of the MAC (as of July 2022).
Shawn Neilson
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
CNRL is one of the members of the Mining Association of Canada and a senior executive at CNRL, Shawn Neilson, Vice President of Mining (Albian Sands) sits on the board of directors of the MAC (as of July 2022).
Shawn Neilson
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: Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL) does not appear to be supportive of policies to respond to climate change. Canadian Natural maintains support for a high GHG energy mix, especially a long-term role for fossil gas in the future energy mix.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Canadian Natural appears to have a mixed stance on climate policy in its top-line messaging. In June 2021, Canadian Natural and other major Canadian oil sands producers formed an alliance called Oil Sands Pathway to Net-Zero, through which it stated support for the net-zero by 2050 target and the Paris Agreement. Through its 2020 Stewardship Report published in August 2021, the company has stated support for Canada’s commitments in the Paris Agreement and supported the efforts to limit global warming below 2 °C.
While Canadian Natural has stated support for government regulation to respond to climate change, the company’s overall stance appears to be mixed. For instance, in its website, when accessed in July 2022, the company supported the need for “strong environmental policy and regulation”. On the contrary, there is evidence to suggest that the company may not fully support ambitious policy. On its website, when accessed in 2021, the company stated that climate regulations should not compromise the competitiveness of energy intensive, trade exposed industries.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Canadian Natural appears to have mixed engagement with specific climate regulations. Canadian Natural states on its website that it is “not engaged on aspects of broader climate policy beyond the oil and natural gas industry, including broad-based carbon tax”, when accessed in July 2022. Nonetheless, it appears that Canadian Natural lobbies on elements of climate policy, particularly on GHG emissions legislations. For instance, Canadian Natural’s lobbying registration in British Columbia revealed that the company had engaged on methane policy in the province, emphasizing that regulations should be efficient and effective, and maintain competitiveness.
In March 2020, President Tim McKay signed an open letter to the federal government calling for the planned increase to the federal carbon tax to be postponed due to COVID-19. Furthermore, while Canadian Natural has maintained support for a carbon pricing scheme such as a carbon tax since 2016, as the 2021 CDP response shows, this support seems contingent on allowances for energy-intensive industries and revenues being directed toward developing technologies.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Canadian Natural appears to advocate in favor of oil and gas. The company’s website, when accessed in July 2022, appeared to support a long-term role for oil and gas, claiming that the world needs more “Canadian energy”. Canadian Natural’s registration at the Canada’s federal lobbying registry shows that it had lobbied for oil and gas infrastructure funding and sought policy support for international market access for Canada’s oil and gas during the period January - June 2022. Canadian Natural’s 2020 Stewardship Report, published in August 2021, supported the CCUS provisions in the Government of Canada’s budget; however, it went on to portray that CCUS technology would enable oil and gas presence in the energy mix, “well into the future”.
Industry Association Governance: Canadian Natural appears to show limited transparency on its membership of industry associations and does not appear to have undertaken an audit of its industry associations’ lobbying on climate change policy. The company has disclosed its membership with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), Mining Association of Canada, and Oil & Gas UK, all of which appear to be engaging negatively on climate change policy.
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 2023.