Glencore International

InfluenceMap Score
for Climate Change
D-
Performance Band
39%
Organisation Score
45%
Relationship Score
Sector:
Metals & Mining
Head​quarters:
Baar, Switzerland
Brands and Associated Companies:
globalCOAL, Xstrata
Official Web Site:
Wikipedia:

Climate Lobbying Overview: Glencore 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 2021 Climate Report, published in December 2021, Glencore supported emissions reductions in line with the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement. Further, on its corporate website, accessed in August 2022, the company supported limiting temperature rise to well-below 2°C. In its 2021 Sustainability Report, published in April 2022, 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.

Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Glencore appears to have increased its transparent engagement with climate policy in Q3 of 2022. Glencore engaged negatively on Australia’s Safeguard Mechanism (SM) Reforms in a September 2022 consultation response. The company stated that the removal of headroom should be carried out on an individual basis and appeared to not support ‘aggressive’ baseline decline rates. It also supported the direct provision of SMC’s and differential baselines but adding that non-EITE’s should not be disadvantaged. Additionally, in a November 2022 submission on 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 facilities from any additional emissions limits at the state level.

Further, in a September 2022 joint letter to EU policymakers, Glencore opposed new and ongoing climate and energy policy in EU and stressed costs for industry, and also called 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 to have said that coal is a necessary fuel for today, and that it provides “stable base load power, particularly for the developing world”. In a July 2022 Sydney Morning Herald article, the company supported the role of coal in Australia’s economy, global electricity generation, and energy security.

However, Glencore has supported the development of low-emission technologies. The company supported CCS deployment in hard-to-abate sectors, including cement and steel, in its 2021 Sustainability Report published in April 2022. In the same report, Glencore appeared to support the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, and the electrification of transport.

Industry Association Governance: Glencore discloses its industry association memberships and has published three reviews of its alignment with these groups on climate change in 2019, 2020, and 2021. 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 as a director on the board of the Queensland Resources Council, board-membership of the Minerals Council of Australia and The Minerals Council South Africa, and regular membership of the New South Wales Minerals Council.

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 2022.

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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11NS-1-110
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11NSNS-11NS
1NA-2NANANANS
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0NS0-2NS0NS
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NSNS0NS-21NS
00NS-2-20-2
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Strength of Relationship
STRONG
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
WEAK
 
55%
 
55%
 
50%
 
50%
 
44%
 
44%
 
31%
 
31%
 
30%
 
30%
 
42%
 
42%
 
47%
 
47%
 
50%
 
50%
 
45%
 
45%
 
51%
 
51%
 
58%
 
58%
 
47%
 
47%
 
45%
 
45%
 
43%
 
43%

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.