Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: Mitsubishi Motors is actively and negatively engaged with climate policy in multiple regions in 2023-2025. The company was unsupportive of Australia’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) and CAFE standards in the US, while taking unclear positions on the energy transition. Mitsubishi Motors retains memberships to several industry associations that have engaged negatively with key climate policies.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Mitsubishi Motors appeared to have generally positive positions in its top-line messaging on climate policy. In its 2025 Sustainability Report, published in July 2025 and 2024 CDP Response, Mitsubishi Motors supported the goals of the Paris Agreement. In its 2024 Sustainability Report, published in July 2024, the company acknowledged the causal relationship between human activity, climate change and climate induced weather phenomena.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Mitsubishi Motors had active and negative engagement with climate-related regulations such as the Australian Government’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES), as well as the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards and GHG emissions standards in the US. The CEO of Mitsubishi Motors Australia, Shaun Wescott, emphasized the costs of the Australian Government’s NVES in a July 2025 CarExpert article. Likewise, the company appeared unsupportive of NVES in a July 2025 Financial Review article. In a March 2024 consultation response on Australia's NVES, Mitsubishi advocated to delay the introduction of Australia's proposed fuel efficiency standards until 2027 with flexibilities which weaken the stringency of the standard including super credits and AC credits.
In the US, in October 2023 US federal regulatory comments, Mitsubishi advocated to weaken the stringency of proposed CAFE standards and to maintain flexibilities, such as off-cycle and air-conditioning credits. In July 2023 comments to the EPA, Mitsubishi advocated to reduce the stringency of the proposed US GHG emissions standards for light- and medium-duty vehicles MY 2027+ and to maintain credit programs that would further weaken the program.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Mitsubishi Motors had an unclear position on policies promoting the electrification of transportation. In Australia, Mitsubishi Motors advocated to extend the fringe benefits tax (FBT) exemption for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and/or purchase subsidies for new PHEV purchases in a March 2025 FCAI Pre-budget 2025/26 submission. According to media reports by Drive in October 2024 and Which Car in January 2023, the company’s Australia CEO appeared to support a longer-term role for ICE-powered vehicles over the full electrification of road transportation in Australia. He also supported increased use of PHEVs in a July 2025 GoAuto article and advocated for the reinstatement of the FBT for PHEV in a July 2025 GoAuto article.
Industry Association Governance: Mitsubishi Motors provided an incomplete list of its trade association memberships on its corporate website, accessed in September 2025. The company published its first industry association review which includes the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) where the Representative Executive Officer, President & CEO of Mitsubishi Motors Corp, Takao Kato, is an executive director. However, Mitsubishi Motors has excluded memberships to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) where CEO of Mitsubishi Australia is deputy chair on the board, Alliance for Automotive Innovation, Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai) where CFO is a member of the Environment and Energy Committee, Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), and National Association of Automotive Vehicle Manufacturers (ANFAVEA) where vice president of HPE automotores, official Mitsubishi representation in Brazil is a member on the executive board, all of which have strategic and negative engagement with climate policy.
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 (July-September) 2025.