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: VINCI appears to be actively engaged with climate policy, and is mostly positively lobbying on legislation in France and the EU. The company is supportive of energy efficiency legislation, in particular France’s Réglementation Environnementale 2020 (RE2020), and advocates for the scale up of green hydrogen and electrification.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: VINCI appears to broadly support top-line ambition on climate change. In March 2020 on the website of its innovators program, LEONARD, the company stated support for limiting warming to 1.5°C and in a tweet in December 2020 it supported France and the EU’s climate neutrality goals. However, in a 2020 earnings call, the CEO Xavier Huillard stated that air transport was being “very unfairly attacked” with regard to its carbon emissions. On the company’s LEONARD website in March 2020, VINCI supported ambitious policies in addition to technological advancement to respond to climate change. However, in an interview with Le Journal de Dimanche in June 2020, the CEO suggested that regulation such as standards and penalties are counterproductive for “entrepreneurs.”
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: VINCI appears to have mostly positive engagement with climate regulations. In an interview with Équilibre des Énergies in April 2020, the CEO of subsidiary VINCI Construction, Jérôme Stubler, strongly supported France’s Réglementation Environnementale 2020 (RE2020) which regulates the energy efficiency of new buildings and the carbon footprint of the materials used. Additionally, in July 2021, VINCI CEO Xavier Huillard signed a joint letter supporting the EU’s Renovation Wave. The same letter advocated for defining the framework of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism to be one of the priorities for the French Presidency of the European Commission in 2022. On its LEONARD website in March 2020, VINCI supported carbon taxes as a way to respond to climate change. InfluenceMap could not find clear positions on the EU Emissions Trading System nor the EU’s 2030 Climate Target.
Positioning on Energy Transition: VINCI appears to strongly support the transition of the energy mix. On the VINCI Energies website, accessed in August 2021, the company supported the transition to renewable energy away from fossil fuels. In July 2021 in a webinar by subsidiary VINCI Autoroutes, a senior executive, Elise Bon, supported scaling up decarbonized hydrogen production for heavy-duty vehicles. In October 2020, in the VINCI Concessions Magazine, the company supported green hydrogen as a way to decarbonize aviation. The company was supportive of the electrification of transportation on the VINCI Energies website, accessed August 2021, and on the website of its LEONARD program in February 2020 it supported a phase out of internal combustion engine vehicles.
Industry Association Governance: VINCI does not appear to disclose memberships of industry associations on its corporate website, but in its 2020 CDP Climate Change disclosure it listed relationships with 10 groups, including MEDEF, an association which is negatively lobbying legislation in the EU and France. The company has not published a review of alignment with its industry associations.