Glencore International

InfluenceMap Score
for Climate Policy Engagement
D-
Performance Band
43%
Organization Score
47%
Relationship Score
Sector:
Metals & Mining
Head​quarters:
Baar, Switzerland
Brands and Associated Companies:
PolyMet, Astron Energy, GlobalCOAL
Official Web Site:
Wikipedia:

Climate Policy Engagement Overview: Glencore is strategically engaged on climate related issues. The company appears broadly unsupportive of immediate action on climate change, and continues to support a sustained role for coal in the energy mix. Glencore also retains membership to a network of industry associations which engage negatively on various strands of climate change policy.

Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Glencore appears broadly supportive of climate action in its top-line communications. In its 2022 Climate Report, published in March 2023, Glencore stated that the global response to climate change should pursue “twin objectives” of limiting temperatures in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement, and supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals, stressing access to affordable energy. Further, on its corporate website, accessed in July 2023, the company expressed support for limiting temperature to well-below 2°C and pursuing efforts to limit temperature increase to 1.5°C.

Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Glencore has opposed ambitious climate policy in Australia, the EU, and South Africa. In a November 2022 submission to the New South Wales EPA Draft Climate Change Policy and Action Plan, Glencore opposed the proposal to develop sector-wide emissions standards for industry, and advocated for the exclusion of Safeguard Mechanism (SGM) facilities from any additional emissions limits at the state level. Furthermore, in a February 2023 consultation submission, Glencore opposed the proposed design of the SGM reforms on a range of counts, including supporting further assistance to emissions intensive trade exposed (EITE) facilities, suggesting that other facilities should not be penalized through differentiated baselines, not supporting the use of 'best practice emissions intensities' for existing facilities, and advocating for a delay in their use for new facilities.

Further, in a September 2022 joint letter to EU policymakers, Glencore opposed new and ongoing climate and energy policy in the EU, calling for ‘bearable’ prices under the EU Emissions Trading System. Additionally, in its 2021 Climate Report, published in December 2021, Glencore also appeared to support a "pass-through" mechanism for liquid fuels under South Africa's carbon tax, which would weaken the ambition of the policy.

Positioning on Energy Transition: Glencore continues to promote a sustained role for coal in the global energy mix. In a March 2023 Bloomberg article, Glencore CEO Gary Nagle was quoted stating that coal is a necessary fuel for today, and that it provides “stable base load power, particularly for the developing world”. Nagle further advocated in favour of a role for coal in the energy mix in a July 2023 Financial Times article, stating that “there is a role for coal, both steam coal and met metallurgical coal, in the world, as the world decarbonises”.

However, Glencore has supported the development of low-emission technologies. In its 2022 Climate report, published March 2023, Glencore advocated directly to the Queensland government to amend legislation to enable the transportation of hydrogen and ammonia in pipelines, and supported the production of blue hydrogen for transport and industry. CEO Gary Nagle also appeared to support electric vehicle tax incentives under the US Inflation Reduction Act in a February 2023 earnings call.

Industry Association Governance: Glencore discloses its industry association memberships annually and has published four reviews of its alignment with these groups on climate change from 2019-2023. Glencore decided to terminate its membership with the World Coal Association in 2022. However, the company retains strong links to several industry associations actively opposed to meaningful climate change policy, including board-membership to the Queensland Resources Council, Minerals Council of Australia and Minerals Council South Africa.

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 Q3 2023.

A detailed assessment of the company's corporate review on climate policy engagement can be found on InfluenceMap's CA100+ Investor Hub here.

QUERIES
DATA SOURCES
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Strength of Relationship
STRONG
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
WEAK
 
55%
 
55%
 
50%
 
50%
 
49%
 
49%
 
32%
 
32%
 
40%
 
40%
 
42%
 
42%
 
49%
 
49%
 
50%
 
50%
 
47%
 
47%
 
49%
 
49%
 
60%
 
60%
 
49%
 
49%
 
48%
 
48%
 
45%
 
45%
 
50%
 
50%
 
46%
 
46%

How to Read our Relationship Score Map

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.