We have expanded the list of climate policies we assess company engagement with to incorporate land-use related policy, referring to legislative or regulatory measures to enhance and protect ecosystems and land where carbon is being stored. Assessments under this category are currently underweighted in terms of their contribution to the overall company metrics. This weighting will be progressively increased over the next 6 months.
We adjusted the terminology used to describe the queries running down the left-hand side of our scoring matrix and added additional explanatory text to the info-boxes. This has no impact on the scores and methodology. It has been done following user feedback to improve clarity.
In this section, we depict graphically the relationships the corporation has with trade associations, federations, advocacy groups and other third parties who may be acting on their behalf to influence climate change policy. Each of the columns above represents one relationship the corporation appears to have with such a third party. In these columns, the top, dark section represents the strength of the relationship the corporation has with the influencer. For example if a corporation's senior executive also held a key role in the trade association, we would deem this to be a strong relationship and it would be on the far left of the chart above, with the weaker ones to the right. Click on these grey shaded upper sections for details of these relationships. The middle section contains a link to the organization score details of the influencer concerned, so you can see the details of its climate change policy influence. Click on the middle sections for for details of the trade associations. The lower section contains the organization score of that influencer, the lower the more negatively it is influencing climate policy.
Climate Lobbying Overview: Shoprite has broadly positive engagement on specific climate policies in South Africa, including the South African Carbon Tax and mandatory carbon reporting. However, it has not transparently disclosed a position on the energy transition beyond top-line support for decarbonization.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Shoprite’s top-line communications on climate policy in 2022 are broadly positive. In its 2022 Sustainability report, published in 2022, Shoprite supported achieving net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, and also supported emissions reductions in line with limiting warming to 1.5°C. The company also recognized the causal link between climate change, human activity, and extreme weather events in the same 2022 report. Shoprite Chairman Dr Anna Mokgokong referenced the South African Climate Change Bill in a 2021 Sustainability report, however Mokgokong did not disclose a position on the policy. The company has also not explicitly supported the Paris Agreement, or the need for government regulations to respond to climate change.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Shoprite has limited its disclosures on engagement with climate-related regulations to its CDP responses, and has not transparently disclosed any policy engagement in its corporate reporting. In its 2021 CDP response, Shoprite supported the South African Carbon Tax, and called for the tax to be ringfenced for use in national climate mitigation and resilience initiatives. This is a change in position by Shoprite - in its 2018 CDP response the company opposed the Carbon Tax, stating that it wasn’t a constructive policy. In its 2022 CDP response, the company also supported mandatory carbon reporting in South Africa under the government’s Gazette on National Greenhouse Gas Emission Reporting Regulations. Shoprite stated that carbon reporting can be used to build a national GHG emissions inventory and inform national GHG reduction targets.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Shoprite has very limited transparent engagement on the energy transition, having only disclosed two top-line position on the issue in 2021-2022. In its 2022 Sustainability report, the company’s Sustainability Manager Sanjeev Raghubir appeared to support broad-based decarbonization in South Africa. Raghubir also supported broad-based decarbonization in a November 2021 opinion piece.
Industry Association Governance: Shoprite has limited its disclosure on its memberships to industry associations to one association (Consumer Goods Council of South Africa) in its 2021 CDP response. The company does not have a corporate disclosure channel detailing its relationships to industry associations, and has not completed an audit of its industry associations and their positions on climate change policy.