Climate Lobbying Overview: Orica broadly supports action on climate change but takes more negative positions on the Australian energy mix, albeit with limited engagement.

Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Orica appears to have broadly positive top-line communications on climate policy. In December 2022, Orica published a Climate Action Report in which it supported the global response to pursue efforts to limit temperature rise to 1.5° C, also supporting action “in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement.” In the report, Orica stated support for government policies and programs that provide “fiscal subsidies for early-stage low-emissions technology development,” and carbon pricing generally, but highlighted the need to maintain global competitiveness and prevent carbon leakage.

Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Orica appears to have limited engagement with climate-related regulations. The company’s 2021 CDP Disclosure seemed to stress the risks of carbon leakage and the impacts on competitiveness from Alberta’s new emissions trading system, the Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction System (TIER). In its 2022 Climate Action Report, the company suggested that the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) should be “non-discriminatory” while acknowledging that carbon border adjustments “could be ... an effective global climate policy.”

Positioning on Energy Transition: Orica does not appear fully supportive of the energy transition. In November 2022 the company’s CEO reportedly supported the role of fossil gas in the energy mix in a Sydney Morning Herald article. Recently, the company made more positive statements on the energy transition as part of the Australian Climate Leaders Coalition, supporting] updates to market rules to aid decarbonization, the deployment of electric vehicle recharging infrastructure, and a significant retirement of coal power by 2030, in a November 2021 joint statement signed by Orica’s CEO Sanjeev Gandhi. Furthermore, in May 2022 the CEO emphasized the importance of decarbonizing the power sector and the company’s 2022 Climate Action Report emphasized the role of green hydrogen for the “transition to a lower-carbon economy”.

Industry Association Governance: Orica disclosed a list of its memberships to industry associations as part of its 2022 Climate Action Report. However, while it flagged that the company is “partially aligned” with some associations, it provided no detail of areas of misalignment and did not disclose the industry associations’ climate change policy positions. An Orica executive sits on the board of the Energy Users Association of Australia, which appears to show limited support for action on climate change. Furthermore, Orica is a member of several negatively engaged industry associations, including the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) and the NSW Minerals Council.

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 2023.