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.
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Climate Lobbying Overview: Suzano appears to actively support climate change policy with some exceptions. The company strongly supports high-level action to reduce emissions, and actively supports a regulated carbon market in Brazil. However, it takes more mixed positions on regulation to protect carbon sinks and prevent deforestation.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Suzano strongly supports climate policy in its top-line messaging. In its 2021 Annual Report, published in 2022, the company supported limiting global warming to 1.5°C and advocated for short- and medium-term goals to achieve long-term climate objectives. Suzano stated support for regulation to “influence the climate agenda” in its 2021 Annual Report, and its CEO Walter Schalka was in favor of climate policies in Brazil in November 2021, in order to implement the countries’ COP26 commitments. On its corporate website, accessed in July 2022, Suzano supported COP26 and advocated for increased action. The CEO consistently advocated for the finalization of Article 6 around COP26 in November 2021, and in a November 2022 joint letter he supported leaders setting Paris-aligned Nationally Determined Contributions before COP27.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Suzano supports specific climate change regulations with some exceptions. In 2021-22, the company consistently advocated for the creation of a cap-and-trade system in Brazil which would be linked to the UN Paris Agreement and reduce deforestation, with statements of support from its CEO and through corporate communications. However, the CEO stated in November 2021 that a carbon price of $12 would be sufficient to unlock investments in reforestation. In an October 2021 press release, Suzano did not support a carbon tax, suggesting that it did not encourage more ambitious action or reward companies which adopt good practices. The CEO signed a joint letter in November 2022 in favor of energy efficiency incentives and renewable energy legislation and standards.
In its 2021 Annual Report, the company supported strengthening public policies of planning and local territorial development to mitigate climate impacts. The CEO stated support for limiting illegal deforestation in the Amazon, but only in the short-term, in November 2021. In November 2022, the CEO signed a joint letter supporting government investments to make agricultural production more resource efficient.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Suzano seems to broadly support the energy transition, and appears to support the role of biofuels in the energy mix. In its CDP response in 2021, Suzano indicated that it supports adding biomass to the energy mix in Brazil, disclosing that it worked to affect this through a workshop with the Ministry of Energy via an industry association. The company supported the transition away from fossil fuels to renewable alternatives on its corporate website, accessed in July 2022, and the CEO advocated in support of the removal of fossil fuel subsidies and regulatory measures to transition to low-carbon technologies and infrastructure in a November 2022 joint letter.
Industry Association Governance: Suzano has disclosed a list of memberships to industry associations in its 2021 Annual Report, published in 2022. However, the company does not detail the positions of these groups on climate change nor how it is influencing these positions. Suzano has not published a review of alignment with its industry associations on climate policy. Suzano does not appear to hold memberships to any industry associations currently covered by InfluenceMap’s database.
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 Q1 2023.
Additional Note: Suzano is headquartered in Brazil, where InfluenceMap’s LobbyMap platform can currently only make a provisional assessment of corporate climate policy engagement, due to limited capability to access publicly available data on this issue. As it is possible that InfluenceMap is not yet able to fully capture evidence of Suzano's climate policy engagement activities, these scores should be considered provisional at this time.
InfluenceMap's analysis of corporate policy engagement covers a range of climate-motivated policy streams, which is being expanded continually as national policy developments occur. In 2022, InfluenceMap will introduce coverage of corporate engagement with climate policy related to land use and circular economy issues. As Suzano operates in sectors where such policy issues are highly significant, it is likely that such future evolutions of InfluenceMap's system will impact Suzano's climate change policy engagement scores in the future.