Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: Orlen Group appears to be negatively and actively engaged on climate change policy. Orlen has engaged negatively on European climate policy, including renewable energy. The company also supports the long-term role for unabated fossil gas in the energy mix.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Orlen appears to take a mixture of positive and negative positions on climate policy in its limited top-line communications. The company recognized the need for urgent action to combat climate change in its 2023 Non-Financial report, published in April 2024. However, in its key policy asks at the EU Forum document, published in November 2024, the company emphasized the technological feasibility and economic viability of emissions reductions and appeared to advocate for a less urgent pace for the energy transition. Orlen also qualified its support for regulations by suggesting they should not affect national or regional competitiveness in the same document. The company does not appear to be engaged on the Paris Agreement.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Orlen appears to be broadly unsupportive of EU climate policy and regulation, specifically renewable energy policy. In October 2024 comments submitted on the Methodology to determine the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission savings of low-carbon fuels, the company did not support the additionality principle in the EU Renewable Energy Directive Delegated Act on Renewable Fuels of Non-Biological Origins (RFNBOs), weakening the climate ambition of the policy.
Positioning on the Energy Transition: Orlen does not appear to support the energy transition, and advocates for the long-term role of unabated fossil gas in the energy mix.
In April 2025 comments submitted on the oil and gas producers’ contributions to the EU’s 2030 storage objective, Orlen supported the proposed carbon storage mandate for oil and gas producers with major exceptions. The company called for a delay in the timeline for obligated entities to submit carbon storage plans and not supporting the annual reporting requirements; advocating for flexibilities which may impact the climate integrity of the policy. In a September 2024 op-ed the company also appeared to advocate for a continued role of fossil gas to back up renewables, without placing clear conditions on the need for carbon capture and storage (CCS) or methane emission abatement on the use of gas.
In regard to hydrogen, Orlen submitted comments on the Methodology to determine the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission savings of low-carbon fuels in October 2024, in which the company supported the EU Hydrogen and Gas Decarbonization Package Delegated Act on the definition of low-carbon hydrogen with major exceptions. Orlen advocated for hydrogen produced using electricity sourced from low-carbon power purchase agreements (PPAs) and did not support the proposed criteria including additionality.
Industry Association Governance: Orlen disclosed a list of its memberships to industry associations in its 2023 Integrated Report, published in August 2024, however the company does not appear to have disclosed an account of its industry associations' positions and engagement activities. Orlen is a member of Hydrogen Europe, International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP) and European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic), all of which are actively engaged on climate change policy with a mixture of positive and negative positions.
This company profile was changed to reflect the advocacy of Orlen Group after the acquisition of Polskie Górnictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo (PGNiG) in November 2022
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 2025.