Marathon Petroleum

Sector

Energy

Headquarters

Houston, United States

Official Website

marathonpetroleum.com

Climate Policy Engagement Analysis

Climate Policy Engagement Overview: Marathon Petroleum is actively engaged on US climate change policy, and its positions are largely negative. Marathon’s top-line messaging on climate policy is mixed, and it has generally opposed several specific climate-related policies in the US. In addition, Marathon is a board-level member of numerous industry associations that strategically oppose ambitious climate policy in the US, including the American Petroleum Institute (API) and National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).

Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Marathon has mixed top-line messaging on climate policy. In August 2025, Marathon supported the Trump administration's proposed repeal of federal power plant carbon standards, stating that fossil fuel power plants do not contribute "significant" GHG emissions — a position aligned with climate denial in policymaking. This stance appears to be inconsistent with the company’s messaging in its other communications. In its 2024 CDP disclosure, Marathon supported limiting temperature rise to well below 2°C, supported a price on carbon though without clarity on whether this refers to government policy, and supported an ambitious UN climate treaty.

Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Marathon's engagement with climate change policy has been limited and mostly negative. In October 2023, Marathon advocated for weakening emissions trading policy by requesting that the California Cap-and-Trade program exempt all biomass, regardless of source, from compliance obligations. In July 2023, Marathon advocated for relaxing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Light and Medium Duty Vehicle emissions standards, while also suggesting the integration of renewable liquid fuels. Previously, in April 2023 comments to the EPA on the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), the company opposed a request from U.S. states to remove waivers for small refineries under the standard.

Positioning on Energy Transition: Marathon appears to oppose transitioning the energy mix. In August 2025 comments to the EPA, the company advocated for the Trump administration’s proposed repeal of finalized carbon standards for existing coal- and new gas-fired power plants, claiming the Biden EPA exceeded its legal authority. In February 2024, the company submitted comments to the California Air Resources Board’s Advanced Clean Cars II Regulations advocating against a waiver of preemption for electric vehicles (EVs). In August 2023, Marathon submitted comments with the Midwest Ozone Group opposing the EPA’s proposed power plant rules, arguing that the suggested best system for emission reduction—carbon capture and storage (CCS) or hydrogen co-firing—exceeded the agency’s legal authority.

The company has also supported policies with unclear impact on the energy transition. In its 2024 CDP disclosure, Marathon supported the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and measures to reduce emissions from relevant fuels, without addressing the need to phase out fossil fuels long-term. Marathon is engaged on broader energy policy, including the 2025 budget reconciliation bill and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), but has not disclosed a clear position (Lobbying Disclosure Report, Q2 2025).

Industry Association Governance: Marathon has disclosed a list of its 2023 industry association memberships and states broadly that it may not always agree with the groups’ positions on climate policy. However, the company has not published a dedicated review of its industry associations’ climate policy engagement activities, therefore omitting key instances of engagement. Marathon added a new “2024” disclosure under the “Political Engagement” section of its corporate website, but the link appears broken. Marathon maintains high-level memberships to several groups actively opposing US climate policy, including board-level membership with the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), American Petroleum Institute (API), Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), and National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).

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

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 2025.

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InfluenceMap Score for Climate Policy Engagement

E

Performance Band

34%

Organization Score

29%

Relationship Score

13%

Engagement Intensity

Disclosure Analysis

Drawing on the assessment of Marathon Petroleum's real-world climate policy activities outlined above, this section assesses accuracy of the disclosures from Marathon Petroleum's website and core reporting.

Indicator
Score
Accuracy of Climate Policy Engagement Disclosure
No, does not meet criteria
Sub-Indicator
Score
Accuracy of Direct Climate Policy Engagement Disclosure
No, does not meet criteria
Accuracy of Indirect Climate Policy Engagement Disclosure
No, does not meet criteria

Key

Yes, meets criteria*

Partial, meets some criteria

No, does not meet criteria

* Criteria drawn from the Global Standard on Responsible Climate Lobbying.
Full Disclosure Scorecard

Primary Evidence

All primary evidence used to inform the analysis of Marathon Petroleum can be found in the two tabs below below. In the first tab, hyperlinks in each cell of the matrix provide access to evidence collected on Marathon Petroleum's direct policy engagement activities. The second tab provides a record of any links between Marathon Petroleum and the Industry Associations stored in the LobbyMap database.

DATA SOURCES
QUERIES
Main Web Site

Main Web Site

Corporate Media

Corporate Media

CDP Responses

CDP Responses

Direct Consultation with Governments

Direct Consultation with Governments

Media Reports

Media Reports

CEO Messaging

CEO Messaging

Financial Disclosures

Financial Disclosures

Communication of Climate Science

1NSNA-2NSNSNS

Alignment with IPCC on Climate Action

0NS1NSNSNSNS

Supporting the Need for Regulations

0NS0NSNS-1NS

Support of UN Climate Process

1NS2NSNSNSNS

Transparency on Legislation

-1NA-2NANANANS

Carbon Tax

NSNSNA-2-1-1NS

Emissions Trading

-1NSNA-1NSNSNS

Energy and Resource Efficiency

NSNSNANS-2NSNS

Renewable Energy

1NS-1-1NS-21

Energy Transition & Zero Carbon Technologies

0NS0-2-2-1NS

GHG Emission Regulation

0NSNA-1-2NSNS

Disclosure on Relationships

-2NS-2NANANANS

Land Use

NSNSNS0NSNSNS