Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: Hancock Prospecting has low levels of engagement with climate policy. The company displays limited yet largely oppositional transparent engagement with specific climate-related policies in Australia and advocates for a prolonged role for fossil gas in the energy mix.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Hancock Prospecting displays largely negative top-line messaging on climate regulations. Although the company appeared to support the Australian government's 2050 net-zero target on its corporate website, accessed November 2024, Executive Chairman Gina Rinehart also emphasized the impact of net zero regulations on the agriculture sector, as reported in an August 2023 Sky News article. Rinehart appeared to reiterate this stance in a November 2023 Sky News op-ed, emphasizing the problems created for Australian industries by net zero regulations.
Engagement with Climate-Related Policy: Hancock Prospecting's transparent engagement with climate-related policies appears to be confined to its oppositional advocacy on Australia's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act and Safeguard Mechanism reforms. As revealed in a Freedom of Information Request, Hancock Prospecting was a signatory to a March 2024 letter advocating for Australia's Prime Minister to personally intervene to rule out the introduction of a climate trigger to proposed reforms to the EPBC Act. The company also appeared to express unsupportive positions on Australia’s Safeguard Mechanism reforms in a May 2024 Australian Financial Review article, stressing that the policy adds additional regulatory burden for resource projects. In addition, Hancock Prospecting's Chief Executive, Garry Korte, appeared to advocate for additional exemptions for magnetite ore facilities under the reforms, while also warning of the "unintended consequences" of the policy, as reported in a July 2023 West Australian article.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Hancock Prospecting demonstrates negative positions on the energy transition, emphasizing concerns around the transition towards renewables while advocating a prolonged role for fossil gas. In an August 2024 Bush Summit Speech, Executive Chairman, Gina Rinehart, appeared to stress concerns around the economic and technical feasibility of the transition to renewables, stating that "so-called sustainable energy can’t underpin our base power load requirements". Rinehart appeared to push similar narratives in a November 2024 National Mining Day Speech and in her December 2023 AFR Business Person of the Year Award Remarks.
Hancock Prospecting likewise appears to consistently advocate for a prolonged role for fossil gas in the energy mix. The company appeared to support CCS technology in its May 2024 Submission to the Senate Committee on Environment and Communications on the basis that “CCS enables the continued use of fossil fuels, such as natural gas, while minimizing their environmental impact”. As reported in a December 2023 Guardian article, Hancock Prospecting also opposed the Northern Territory government's proposal to set net-zero emissions requirements for oil and gas developments.
Hancock Prospecting’s subsidiary, Roy Hill, appears to adopt a more supportive position on the energy mix transition. The subsidiary was a member of the Western Australian government’s Pilbara Industry Roundtable, which published a June 2023 communique promoting the role of common use electricity infrastructure in supporting increased renewable energy deployment and industry decarbonization.
Industry Association Governance: Hancock Prospecting has not disclosed its membership to industry associations on its corporate website, neither has it published a review of its alignment with its industry associations. The company maintains membership to several industry associations that promote a prolonged role for fossil gas in the energy mix, including the Australian Energy Producers, Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC), and Business Council of Australia.
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.