Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: Sasol is strategically engaged on climate change, with positive top-line communications on climate policy. However, the company has opposed South Africa’s carbon tax and continues to support a sustained role for fossil gas in the energy mix.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Sasol is broadly supportive of action on climate change in its top-line communications. In its September 2024 Integrated report, Sasol supported reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in line with limiting warming to 1.5°C. In the same report, the company expressed support for the Paris Agreement and appeared to support government climate policy, although with some unspecific qualifications.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Sasol has consistently opposed carbon tax policies in South Africa, while also supporting greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) legislation. For example, in a November 2024 Parliamentary Finance Standing Committee meeting, the meeting chairperson suggested that Sasol had requested that policymakers delay the implementation of Phase 2 of the Carbon Tax Act, which will increase carbon tax rates in 2026. In its 2024 CDP response, the company also stated it had increased its engagement on the Act with policymakers, called for the extension of tax allowances beyond 2030, and was unsupportive of the increased carbon tax rates for 2026 and 2030.
Sasol has also engaged on the South African Climate Change Act, stating in its 2024 CDP response that it supports the use of a punitive carbon tax on entities that exceed their carbon budgets under the Act. However, Sasol appears to support this over penalties that incur criminalization, as set out in the original policy proposal. Sasol has expressed this position in the past, and the resulting penalties in the final Act were weakened.
The company also engages on EU climate policy, including the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED). In its 2024 CDP response, the company stated that it was specifically unsupportive of the RED’s Delegated Acts (DAs), stating that they pose a “significant challenge to the growth of the green hydrogen sector in South Africa.” The company advocated for the extension beyond 2035 of the recognition of fossil CO2 feedstocks as sustainable carbon sources, which would weaken the climate ambition of the policy.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Sasol does not appear to fully support the energy transition, advocating for a sustained role for fossil gas in the energy mix alongside renewables and green hydrogen. For example, in a June 2025 presentation to South African Parliament and the Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, the company directly advocated to policymakers for the new exploration and production of fossil case in South Africa that will lock in fossil fuels to the country’s energy mix.
However, Sasol has consistently supported the development of green hydrogen in South Africa i. On its corporate website, accessed in July 2025, Sasol advocated in favor of policies to decarbonize hydrogen production and expand the use of green hydrogen in aviation. In its 2024 CDP response, the company also supported the development of green hydrogen alongside additional renewable capacity, and supported the South African Green Hydrogen Commercialization Strategy, calling for grants and subsidies for green hydrogen.
Industry Association Governance: Sasol’s last disclosure of its membership to industry associations was in its August 2023 Climate Advocacy report, now almost 2 years out of date. Sasol is a regional board member of Verband der Chemischen Industrie (VCI), sits on the board of Minerals Council South Africa, and Sasol’s CEO is the chairperson of the Energy Council of South Africa. All of these associations are negatively engaged on climate policy.
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.
A detailed assessment of the company's corporate review on climate policy engagement can be found on InfluenceMap's CA100+ Investor Hub here.