Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: Equinor is strategically engaged on climate policy, with generally positive positions on policies related to carbon pricing and renewable energy generation. However, its communications on policies related to the future energy mix appear less positive, and the company continues to actively promote a continued role for fossil gas in the energy mix.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Equinor’s top-line messaging on climate policy is positive, although its support for climate policy is often placed with caveats. On its corporate website, accessed in June 2025, it recognized the need for more urgent action to combat climate change and appeared to support the net-zero emissions by 2050 target. It also supported the goals of the Paris Agreement in its 2025 Review of Industry Associations, published May 2025. However, while it stated support for the need for government regulation to respond to climate change on its corporate website, accessed June 2025, in its 2025 Review of Industry Associations, it appeared to support a market-based response to climate change over government regulation, stating that policy should be technology neutral, be based on market mechanisms and avoid mandates.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Equinor’s engagement with climate-related regulations appears to be mixed, with both supportive and unsupportive positions. On renewable energy legislation, in February 2024, Equinor submitted comments on the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s Central Atlantic Wind Energy Area Proposed Sale Notice, in which it stated support for the 2030 offshore wind target and advocated for increased offshore acreage for wind projects. In Australia, Equinor supported the proposed Guarantee of Origin Scheme and Renewable Energy Certification Scheme in February 2023 comments. Equinor was also part of a joint letter sent to congressional leadership in January 2022 which advocated for the clean energy tax credits to be passed as part of the Build Back Better Act in the US. However, the company appeared unsupportive of the EU Renewable Energy Directive (REDIII) in a joint position paper with Linde, in October 2023.
On other climate policy areas, Equinor appears supportive of the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism in June 2023 comments and in a meeting with EU policymakers in May 2024. The company has also expressed support for emissions trading schemes (ETS), such as in an April 2025 joint letter to EU and UK policymakers, which called for the linking of the EU and UK ETS and in June 2023 comments to policymakers in which the company appeared to support reform of the EU ETS. However, Equinor appeared to not fully support the EU’s methane regulation for the energy sector in a joint letter to EU policymakers in April 2025.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Equinor appears to support the role of fossil fuels alongside renewables in the energy mix, although the company does advocate for the removal of fossil fuel subsidies. In the company’s 2025 Energy Transition Plan, published in March 2025, Equinor supported the role of fossil fuels in the long term global energy mix, but also stated in its 2025 Review of Industry Associations that it supports policy that supports the removal of fossil fuels subsidies. In February 2024, Equinor CEO Andreas Opedal told Upstream that "developing oil and gas will be needed while transitioning". Furthermore, in November 2024 comments on the EU Energy security architecture fitness check, Equinor advocated for the development of gas networks and promoted the role of fossil gas in the energy mix. Equinor has also appeared unsupportive of proposed hydrogen policy in the EU. In October 2024 comments on the EU Hydrogen and Gas Decarbonization Package Delegated Act, Equinor advocated for a weaker definition of low carbon hydrogen, while in a joint position paper to EU policymakers, published in October 2023, Equinor advocated for increased flexibility in the rules and technology neutrality, appearing to promote fossil-based hydrogen over renewable hydrogen.
Industry Association Governance: Equinor retains membership to numerous industry associations that continue to oppose specific climate policies and regulations. In the company’s 2025 industry association review, published in May 2025, Equinor identified ‘partial misalignment’ with the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), as it did in its 2024 and 2023 industry association reviews, but remains a member of both. The company did not indicate misalignment with any other associations it holds a membership with that engage negatively on climate policy, such as BusinessEurope, FuelsEurope and Offshore Energies UK.
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.
Additional Note: Equinor is a listed company with more than 50% of its shares owned by the government of Norway. State-owned enterprises likely retain channels of direct and private engagement with government officials that InfluenceMap is unable to assess, and therefore are not represented in Equinor's engagement intensity metric.