Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: Renault Group exhibits strategic engagement with climate policy in the EU and UK. The company exhibits both positive and negative engagement with science-aligned climate policy in 2023-25. While the company was supportive of the EU’s Greening Corporate Fleets initiative and Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation, it advocated to delay the EU's 2025 CO2 reduction target.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Renault’s CEO, Luca de Meo expressed support for the EU Green Deal in his March 2024 ‘Letter to Europe’ but appeared unsupportive of climate regulation, emphasizing the threat of job loss and loss of competitiveness due to climate policy in the same letter. Renault appeared supportive of the Paris Agreement goals in its 2025 Climate Report, published in April 2025.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: In 2023-2025, Renault was frequently unsupportive of stringent EU CO2 standards for cars and vans. The company voiced concerns about ‘counterproductive effects’ of the 2025 target in a January 2025 meeting with EU policymakers, and advocated to weaken the 2025 target through ‘flexibility larger than 3 years’ in a March 2025 meeting. Renault’s CEO, Luca de Meo, also advocated to delay the EU's 2025 CO2 reduction target by two years in a September 2024 leaked position paper to EU policymakers. In an October 2024 media article, de Meo further advocated for a review of the targets and in a December 2024 ACEA press release, de Meo emphasized concerns with penalties and emphasized the need for ‘legal flexibility’. Furthermore, the company’s CEO advocated to reduce fines for non-compliance in a February 2025 interview. In the same interview de Meo also appeared to suggest that the EU would not meet the 2035 100% CO2 emission reduction target, however, Politico reported that de Meo advocated against the abandonment of the 2035 target in a March 2025 article.
In a March 2025 meeting with the Head of Unit and Director of the Secretariat-General, Renault advocated against the extension of the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.
Positioning on Energy Transition: In 2023-25 Renault demonstrated both support for and opposition to measures to decarbonize road transport. In July and August 2023 statements, Renault’s CEO, Luca de Meo called for a five-year delay to the EU’s 2035 internal combustion engine (ICE) phase-out target, emphasizing numerous challenges associated with vehicle electrification. More recently, de Meo conditioned support for the 2035 ICE phase-out date on the ‘right’ enabling conditions in a February 2024 news article, but advocated against a slow-down in the EV transition. In a January 2025 meeting with the EU Commission, Renault appeared to advocate for a technology-neutral approach to the decarbonization of road transport. In a January 2025 joint letter to policymakers, Renault further advocated for use of hydrogen to compliment electrification, claiming that current regulation is ‘overly strict’, but did not take a clear position on the need to decarbonize hydrogen production.
In a July 2024 consultation response on the EU’s Greening Corporate Fleets initiative, Renault appeared supportive of a mandatory zero-emission trajectory for corporate fleets with the exception that it is in line with market realities and enabling conditions, and avoids being too ambitious. Additionally, the company appeared to advocate for more ambition and penalties for the EU’s Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation in a March 2025 meeting. Renault also supported the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (CISAF) with major exceptions in an April 2025 consultation response.
In January 2025, The Independent reported that Renault advocated for incentives to support the UK’s zero emissions vehicle (ZEV) mandate, but it’s position on the mandate without incentives was unclear.
Industry Association Governance: Renault has published a partial list of its industry associations’ positions and engagement activities on climate-related policies in its 2025 Climate Association Report, published in April 2025. Renault’s CEO is on the board of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), and senior executives of Renault are on the board of the National Association of Automotive Vehicle Manufacturers (ANFAVEA) and the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), all of which have both positive and negative engagement on climate policy. Renault also has senior executives of the board of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) and the Korea Automobile and Mobility Association (KAMA), both of which have mostly negative engagement climate policy.
A detailed assessment of the company's review of its climate policy engagement can be found on InfluenceMap's CA100+ Investor Hub here.
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 Q3 2025.