Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: Santos actively supports the continued role for fossil fuels in the energy mix, particularly fossil gas, despite positive top-line messaging on climate change. There is limited evidence of engagement by Santos on specific climate-related regulation. The company retains memberships to several industry associations which engage negatively on climate policy in Australian such as the Australian Energy Producers and the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Santos appears to have broadly positive but limited communications and engagement on climate-related policy. In Santos’ Climate Change Policy, published in February 2025, the company recognized the need to limit global warming to 1.5°C and stated support for the Paris Agreement.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Santos does not appear to support specific climate-related policies in recent years. In a June 2023 letter to policymakers, CEO Kevin Gallagher appeared to oppose the reforms of the Safeguard Mechanism, advocating for policymakers to reconsider and to apply changes to the Safeguard Mechanism to new facilities only and not to any existing facilities. He also appeared to not support the final Safeguard Mechanism design, stating in an April 2023 AFR article that the reforms had created ‘sovereign risk issues’.
It is unclear whether Santos is supportive of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets. In a November 2023 letter to policymakers, Gallagher stated that he 'understands the imperative to meet the 43 percent emissions' reduction target by 2030' without indicating support for the target.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Santos continues to advocate for the role of fossil fuels in the energy mix. In the company's Climate Transition Action Plan, published in February 2025, it emphasized the long-term role of natural gas without acknowledging the need for emissions abatement. In a October 2023 freedom of information disclosure, Santos along with other company’s directly advocated to policymakers for changes to the regulatory regime to streamline the approvals process for new fossil fuel projects. In a separate letter to policymakers in March 2023, CEO Kevin Gallagher prompted the use of fossil gas in the Asian market and advocated for new measures to support new supply. Similarly, the Australian Financial Review (AFR) reported in December 2023 that Santos had lobbied the Northern Territory government to oppose proposed net-zero requirements for oil and gas developments. Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher reiterated his support for fossil gas in an April 2025 AFR article, where he encouraged policymakers to streamline approvals for new fossil fuel projects.
Industry Association Governance: Santos published its 2024 industry association review in April 2025. While the company has published a partial account of its industry associations' positions and engagement activities on specific climate-related policies, it appears to only cover top-line positions from the associations. Santos excludes material evidence of indirect climate policy engagement identified by InfluenceMap's database, such as the Australian Energy Producers engagement on the Future Made in Australia in June 2024, the Australian Pipelines and Gas Association's comments on the Climate Change Authority's 2024 Issues paper in May 2024 or the Business Council of Australia's comments on APH's Inquiry into nuclear power generation in Australia in November 2024. Santos disclosed its board positions at the Asia Natural Gas and Energy Association (ANGEA), Australian Industry Greenhouse Network (AIGN), and Australian Energy Producers. Santos also disclosed that it left the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia (CME), although it did not provide a reason for doing so.
A detailed assessment of the company's corporate review on 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 Q2 2025.