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.
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: General Mills has positive engagement with US climate regulation, which evidence suggests is primarily through the Ceres BICEP Network in 2021-22. General Mills has communicated positive top-line support for environmental policy, and in the US has supported policies to electrify commercial buildings in Washington and California, alongside supporting more stringent federal GHG emissions standards for light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles through joint letters.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: General Mills appears to have positive top-line messaging on climate policy. In May 2022, the company signed onto a BICEP coalition joint letter that recognized and advocated for ambitious action to combat climate change. General Mills also participated in the Ceres LEAD on Climate day in May 2022, 2021, where the company advocated for a zero-emissions economy by 2050 and supported more ambitious government policy to address climate change. The company also expressed support for Minnesota’s carbon-neutrality target of 2050 in a joint letter to the state’s governor in September 2022.
The 2022 Global Responsibility Report released by the company disclosed engagement with public policy to “combat climate change”. In General Mills’ Climate Policy webpage, accessed January 2022, the company expressed support for government policy to provide “clear guidance on mitigation and adaptation” and establish market based incentives to address climate change. General Mills describes multiple engagements in which it supported ambitious climate policies in a separate page on its corporate website, last accessed in January 2023. General Mills also reported engaging with the Inflation Reduction Act in its Q3 Federal Lobbying Disclosure, but did not disclose a position on the act.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: General Mills appears to have actively supported a carbon tax in the US during the Ceres LEAD on Climate 2022 day in May 2022, an event the company has participated in for the past three years. General Mills has expressed extensive support for GHG emissions targets and standards in a series of joint letters facilitated through BICEP, supporting ambitious GHG standards for heavy-duty trucks in May 2022 and light-duty vehicles in September 2021. The company also engaged extensively with the Growing Climate Solutions Act, disclosing engagement from Q2 2021 through Q3 2022 in its US lobbying disclosures, but did not report details of the engagement. However, General Mills was publicly listed as a supporter of the act on the US senate website in 2021.
Positioning on Energy Transition: General Mills has more limited engagement related to the energy transition. The company co-signed BICEP coalition joint letters supporting policies to electrify commercial buildings in the state of Washington in March 2022 and California in January 2021. In May 2022 the company co-signed a letter advocating for a federal ZEV mandate similar to California’s Advanced Clean Truck rule.
Industry Association Governance: General Mills publicly discloses a list of its memberships to industry associations in a webpage without disclosing its board or working group memberships. It does not appear to have published a review of its alignment with its industry associations. The company is a member of the National Association of Manufacturers, who are actively and negatively engaging with US climate policy.