Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: Philips is highly and positively engaged with EU climate change policy, though its level of engagement appears to have decreased from 2024 onwards. Alongside top-line support for the UN Paris Agreement and the ambition to limit global warming to 1.5°C, Philips consistently supports circular economy initiatives, energy efficiency targets, and renewable energy legislation in the EU.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Philips seems to strongly support action on climate change in its top-line messaging. In October 2023, President & CEO Roy Jakobs signed a joint letter in the lead-up to COP28 calling for increased action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across global supply chains to limit temperature rise within the Paris Agreement’s 1.5ºC target. Philips signed an October 2023 We Mean Business Coalition letter to heads of state attending COP28, supporting the 1.5ºC warming limit and urging governments to implement a wide range of policies to respond to climate change. Philips strongly supports circular economy measures to achieve urgent emissions reductions, for example in its 2023 Annual Report published in February 2024.
Engagement with Climate-Related Policies: Philips has positive engagement climate policy in the EU and Japan, primarily through co-signing business-led climate letters to policymakers. This includes signing an October 2023 We Mean Business Coalition letter, that supported setting global renewable energy and energy efficiency targets by 2030. The company's CEO Roy Jakobs signed a different October 2023 letter that generally supported renewable energy and energy efficiency policies. Philips signed an open statement in July 2024, advocating to the Japanese government to triple the renewable target by 2035 within the country’s 7th Strategic Energy Plan.
The company has also supported specific circular economy and energy efficiency measures in the EU, but has not provided detailed positions on its engagement in the US. In an April 2023 press release, Philips advocated for more ambitious circularity action and appeared to support various circular economy targets, including the EU’s circular economy action plan. The 2023 CDP Disclosure also supported an ambitious EU Energy Efficiency Directive. Philips also reported engagement with US policymakers on circular economy and energy efficiency policies in its 2023 US Federal Lobbying Reports, without stating a position.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Philips has supportive positive yet limited engagement on the energy transition. The company signed an October 2023 We Mean Business Coalition letter urging governments to phase out the use and production of fossil fuels, including setting timelines and targets for this transition and removing fossil fuel subsidies. Another open letter signed by CEO Roy Jakobs in October 2023 advocated for removing fossil fuel subsidies and appeared to support the Inflation Reduction Act in the US and the EU Net Zero Industry Act. The company published a press release in March 2024, supporting a transition to a low-carbon economy.
Industry Association Governance: Philips has disclosed information on its memberships to industry associations in its 2024 Annual Report published in February 2025, without providing further details on the associations’ climate policy positions, and excluded several industry associations actively engaged on climate policy. The company has not published a review of its industry association memberships and climate policy engagement. Philips is a member of the European Roundtable for Industry, which engages on EU climate policy with predominantly positive engagement and is a partner company of Business Europe, which is negatively engaged with EU climate legislation.