Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: Pioneer Natural Resources appears to have very limited engagement with climate policy in its top-line communications and limited engagement with climate-related regulations other than methane regulations. Pioneer is also a member of a number of industry associations including the American Exploration and Production Council (AXPC), Texas Oil and Gas Association (TXOGA) and the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) who traditionally lobby negatively on climate change policy.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Pioneer Natural Resources recognizes some of the science of climate change in its 2022 Sustainability Report, published in July 2022, but no position was found on the Paris Agreement. In the same report, the company also appears to support its own emissions reduction targets but it’s unclear if it supports the global target of net-zero by 2050.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Pioneer appears to have limited engagement with climate-related regulations besides methane regulations. In comments on the EPA Methane Regulation and the supplementary proposal in January 2022 and February 2023 respectively, Pioneer appears to support the regulation of methane but with major exceptions including reducing monitoring frequency and balancing the benefits of oil and gas production with environmental protection. The company also stated support for comments submitted by AXPC and TxOGA who opposed the supplementary proposal.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Pioneer appears to have limited engagement with the energy transition besides appearing to support a long term role for fossil gas. In its 2022 Sustainability Report, published in July 2022, Pioneer suggests that methane regulation should take into consideration the benefits of natural gas to enable its growth and viability in the future.
Industry Association Governance: Pioneer Natural Resources disclosed a list of its industry association memberships on its corporate website, without providing details on the type of membership and role within each industry association, their climate policy positions, how the company influences or attempts to influence their climate policy positions, governance processes for assessing and/or resolving potential cases of misalignment. This included a number of association who traditionally lobby negatively on climate policy, such as AXPC, TXOGA and IPAA. The company has not published a review of its industry association memberships.