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.
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
President of Vestas North America serves on the 2023 American Clean Power Association Board of Directors (updated as of February 2023)
Laura Beane | President, Vestas North America
--no extract--
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
President of Vestas North America serves on the 2023 American Clean Power Association Board of Directors (updated as of February 2023)
Laura Beane | President, Vestas North America
--no extract--
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.
Open PDF file of Data Source
Climate Lobbying Overview: Vestas Wind Systems is actively engaged with climate policy streams, with predominantly positive positions. Vestas’ top-line messaging and direct engagement with policymakers both strongly supported energy transition, particularly the expansion of renewable energy.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Vestas clearly recognizes the science of climate change in an easy-to-access section of its corporate website, accessed in December 2022. In its 2021 Sustainability report, published in February 2022, the company supported the need for ambition in emissions reductions in order to keep the global climate goals alive, calling for relevant policies to be implemented to accelerate change. Vestas also supported the EU's Green Deal and 2050 targets in a June 2021 open letter from the Corporate Leadership Group. The company stated support for the UNFCCC process to limit global warming below 1.5 degrees in an article published in the Financial Times in November 2021. In an October 2022 joint letter ahead of COP27, Vestas’ CEO Henrik Andersen also called for world leaders to commit to ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions that would ‘at least halve global carbon emissions by 2030 and contribute to global net zero by 2050.’
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Vestas adopts high-level supportive positions on key EU climate regulations. In a joint letter in June 2021, Vestas’ CEO Henrik Andersen supported a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism in the EU to ‘deliver an effective strategy to ensure competitiveness for current and future industries in a net zero world’. In the same letter, Vestas’ CEO Henrik Andersen also advocated for energy efficiency and the decarbonization of sectors such as the built environment, through accelerating energy renovation, electrification and digital solutions and strengthening the Energy Efficiency Directive and Energy Performance of Building Directive. In an October 2021 joint letter signed by the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, Vestas stated support for emissions trading with an increasing carbon price.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Vestas generally supports the transition of the energy mix. In a joint letter addressed to world leaders in November 2022 ahead of COP27, Vestas’ CEO called for fossil fuel subsidies to be phased out. In its 2021 Annual report published in February 2022, the company strongly advocates for more ambitious policies to decarbonize the economy, via an increase of renewables and electrification of polluting fossil-intensive sectors. In its 2022 CDP disclosure on climate change, Vestas advocated for only renewable hydrogen to be included in the EU's Renewable Energy Directive, while it expressed caution against use of blue and gray hydrogen, which use fossil gas to produce hydrogen, and hydrogen blending with fossil gas. In an August 2022 Financial Times article, Vestas CEO Henrik Andersen [1091586 welcomed clean energy subsidies in the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act as a breakthrough to accelerate renewable industry.
Industry Association Governance: In its 2021 Annual report, Vestas disclosed its membership of a short list of industry associations, but without providing further details on the company’s role within each association’s governing bodies, nor the company’s influence over climate policy positions. The company has not published a review of its industry associations. However, in its 2021 CDP Climate change disclosure, the company listed its engagement with and climate change positions of multiple industry associations. Vestas appears to be a member of associations with positive lobbying positions on climate policy, such as WindEurope and the American Clean Power Association.