Climate Lobbying Overview: Macquarie Group appears to be broadly supporting progressive action to respond to climate change, as well as supporting a transition of the global energy mix, albeit with limited engagement.

Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Between 2020 and 2021, Macquarie Group has consistently acknowledged climate change science and backed the Paris Agreement in their corporate reporting. It has stated support for the global goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 in its 2021 ESG Report. In July 2021, the Group joined the RACE TO ZERO initiative where the CEO Shemara Wikramanayake urged the financial industry to facilitate the transition to net zero. Prior to this in September 2019, the Group, as part of the Climate Finance Leadership Initiative, called for urgent climate action. Additionally, the company appears to support the role of government in the response to climate change in its Climate Change Approach published in 2019. It has stated support for UK’s 2050 net-zero target in a consultation submission in 2020 and Japan’s 2050 net-zero target in a press release in 2021.

Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Macquarie Group appears to have a positive engagement with climate-related regulations. In its corporate reporting in September 2019, the Group criticized excessive free emissions' allowance for hindering the effectiveness of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme. Regarding renewable energy, in 2019, the company called for more ambitious renewable energy targets and policies to drive up renewable energy generation in corporate reporting and in a blog post it stated support for feed-in tariffs and small-scale technology certificates for lowering the cost of solar energy in Australia. In terms of emissions reduction, in March 2019, Macquarie Group appeared to support proposed greenhouse gas assessment guidelines by Western Australian EPA that would have required offsetting for facilities over a certain threshold of emissions, stating that the proposals were a “solid compromise”.

Positioning on Energy Transition: Macquarie has consistently welcomed the transition to a low-carbon economy in its reports and blog posts between 2020 and 2021. As of August 2021, Macquarie has stated support for a transition to renewables in the global energy mix in line with IPCC advice in its corporate reporting. In June 2020, Macquarie Group made a written submission to the UK Environmental Audit Committee advocating policymakers to introduce more ambitious measures to increase the share of green hydrogen in the energy mix. In a blog post in November 2020, the company stated support for electrification of transport. In its Financing the Low Carbon Future report released in September 2019, Macquarie stated support for removing fossil fuel subsidies; however, in a blog post published in the same month, the company appears to support fossil fuel powered plants in the future energy network.

Industry Association Governance: As of August 2021, Macquarie Group has only disclosed industry association membership of its subsidiary Green Investment Group (GIG) in its corporate reporting. In its 2020 CDP disclosure, it named two industry associations that it is a member of, however, it failed to disclose membership of at least two other groups that are actively lobbying on climate change policy in Australia, the Energy Users Association of Australia and the Business Council of Australia. Additionally, a senior executive at Macquarie Group is the Chair of the Board of the Energy Users Association of Australia.