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)
Virgin Atlantic are members of IATA and Luke Ervine, Virgin Atlantic's Head of Sustainability, is on the Sustainability and Environment Advisory Council (as of February 2023))
Luke Ervine
--no extract--
InfluenceMap Data Point on Corporate - Influencer Relationship
(1 = weak, 10 = strong)
Virgin Atlantic are members of IATA and Luke Ervine, Virgin Atlantic's Head of Sustainability, is on the Sustainability and Environment Advisory Council (as of February 2023))
Luke Ervine
--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.
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: Virgin Atlantic appears to have very limited engagement on climate change or specific climate-related policy in 2019-21, while stating top-line support for net-zero UK aviation emissions by 2050.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Virgin Atlantic appears to have limited top-line messaging on climate change policy. However, in its one-page summary of carbon action, it appears to support net-zero UK aviation by 2050 and the global CORSIA offsetting scheme for aviation. The document also suggests that Virgin Atlantic prefers a market-based response to climate change over government taxation for aviation.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Virgin Atlantic appears to have limited disclosure on its positions, or engagement with, any specific climate-related regulations.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Virgin Atlantic appears to have limited engagement on the energy transition in its communications.
Industry Association Governance: Virgin Atlantic does not disclose a full list of its industry association memberships and indirect climate-related lobbying activities, nor has it published a full audit disclosure of its industry links. Virgin Atlantic is a member of International Aviation Transport Association (IATA), which has actively lobbied against ambitious climate policy for aviation at global, regional, and national levels. Virgin Atlantic is a member of Airlines for Europe, which have actively lobbied against nearly all strands of ambitious EU climate policy for aviation in 2019-21.