Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: Nissan has both negative and positive positions on climate change policies globally in 2023-2025. Nissan advocated to weaken the UK Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) mandate and for lower-stringency GHG standards for vehicles in the US and Australia.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Nissan has mostly positive top-line communications on climate policy. In its Sustainability Data Book 2025, released in July 2025, the company appeared to support efforts to keep global temperature rise below 1.5°C, and recognized the causal relationship between human activities and climate change with reference to IPCC science. The company generally supported the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement in the same report.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Nissan has mostly negative engagement with climate-related regulations for the automotive sector. In the US, in regulatory comments to the EPA made in July 2023, Nissan appeared to oppose higher proposed GHG emissions standards for light- and medium- duty vehicles, citing numerous concerns and advocating for lower-stringency rules. In Canada, Nissan advocated for Canada to align light duty emissions standards with US GHG emissions standards, which were not finalized at the time of the recommendation, in a March 2023 consultation response to the Canadian government. Nissan advocated to weaken the stringency of proposed Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards and to maintain flexibilities such as off-cycle and air-conditioning credits that further weaken the program, in US federal regulatory comments made in October 2023.
In Australia, in a March 2024 consultation response, Nissan advocated to delay Australia's new vehicle efficiency standard by two years and for flexibilities that would weaken the stringency of the standard, including technology credits. The company previously appeared to support an Australian CO2 standard for light-duty vehicles with major exceptions, advocating for off-cycle credits and warning against stringent early year regulations in a May 2023 consultation response.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Nissan has broadly negative positioning on the electrification of transportation, advocating against specific ICE phase-out and Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) mandate policies while also supporting EV incentive policies.
In the UK, Nissan reportedly advocated to delay penalties for the UK ZEV mandate by two years until 2026, according to The Times in February 2025 and Autocar November 2024. In a May 2023 UK consultation response, Nissan stated support for the UK's agreed 2035 ICE phase-out date, without taking a position on which vehicles should be sold between 2030-35. According to a May 2023 consultation response found via freedom of information (FOI) request, Nissan appeared to support the proposed trajectory for cars as part of the UK’s ZEV mandate, but advocated for ZEV mandate payments to not be enforced until 2026 and for numerous flexibilities that may weaken the stringency of the policy. In a November 2024 press release, the company advocated to weaken the UK's Zero Emissions Vehicle mandate by advocating for 2024-2025 to be monitoring years only alongside increasing flexibilities for borrowing credits. In October 2024, Nissan emphasized concerns with meeting the UK zero-emission vehicle mandate without the introduction of further incentives in a joint letter to the UK Chancellor.
In statements in the Guardian in September 2023, Former Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida stated that “there’s no going back ... the world needs to move on from internal combustion engines” following the UK government delaying its initial ICE-phase out plan from 2030 to 2035. In a March 2023 consultation response submitted to the Canadian government, Nissan appeared to oppose a Canadian ZEV mandate, while advocating for numerous flexibilities that would weaken the stringency of the proposal, including introducing early ZEV credits.
Industry Association Governance: In July 2025, the company published its third industry association review. The review disclosed that Nissan’s CEO, Ivan Espinosa, is vice president of the Japanese Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA), which has mostly negative engagement on climate policy. The review also disclosed membership to the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), which has both positive and negative engagement on Japanese climate policy, and the US-based Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which has mostly negative climate advocacy. Nissan did not identify any cases of material misalignment with these industry associations. A Nissan senior executive also sits on the board of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), which has engaged negatively with Australian climate policy. 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 every week, 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.