Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: ONEOK appears to display overall low levels of engagement with climate policy, in both top-line communications and with specific policies at the state and federal levels in the US. The company does retain membership to industry associations which engage actively and negatively with climate policy, including the American Gas Association (AGA) and American Petroleum Institute (API).
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: ONEOK’s top-line messaging on climate policy appears to be limited. The company does not appear to take positions on Paris Agreement and 1.5ºC-aligned emissions reductions. Similarly, ONEOK acknowledges climate regulations without taking a position, such as in its 2023 Annual Report published in March 2024.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: ONEOK does not publicly disclose engagement with climate-related regulations on its website. The company does, however, appear to be engaged with several climate-related regulations, as documented in its quarterly federal lobbying reports, without taking a position on these policies. Most recently, in its Q1 2024 disclosure, ONEOK reported direct engagement with policymakers over the Waste Emissions Charge methane fee and the EPA’s methane emission reduction regulations.
Positioning on Energy Transition: ONEOK has limited transparent engagement with the energy transition, besides advocating for the long-term role of fossil gas in the energy mix. CEO and President Pierce Norton has consistently highlighted the necessity of fossil gas in future energy pathways: in a May 2024 speech to the Tulsa Rotary Club, Norton claimed that fossil gas is needed to meet rising global energy demand; at a Finance Speaker Series in March 2024, he claimed it is required to compensate for the shortcomings of renewables and nuclear; and in a March 2024 interview with Yahoo Finance, he mentioned using fossil gas to produce alternative fuels such as hydrogen and ammonia.
Industry Association Governance: ONEOK has disclosed a full list of its regional and federal industry association memberships on its corporate website, accessed in June 2024. However, it has not included further details on the type of membership and role within each association, their climate policy positions, how ONEOK attempts to influence these positions, or processes for assessing potential misalignment. The list includes several associations which InfluenceMap has assessed as being actively and negatively engaged on climate policy, such as the API and AGA. The company has not published a review of its industry association memberships.
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 Q2 2024.