Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: West Fraser Timber Co (West Fraser) has low engagement with climate policy and holds a mixture of positive and negative positions. The company supports nature-based climate change mitigation but does not appear to support a federally-administered carbon tax in Canada.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: West Fraser’s top-line positions on climate policy are positive. West Fraser supported government policy to price carbon into the economy on its website, accessed in October 2024. In the company’s 2023 Sustainability Report, published in June 2024, West Fraser supported mitigating climate change through land-use techniques, specifically sustainable forestry. In the same report, West Fraser recognized a COP28 resolution on sustainably managed forestry but did not clarify support for the UNFCCC process or the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: West Fraser takes a mixture of positive and negative positions on climate-related regulations. In an August 2024 blog post, the company supported the EU Deforestation Regulation, emphasizing that it would help reach the targets of the EU Green Deal. According to West Fraser’s 2023 CDP Climate Change response, the company supported the Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) Regulation in Alberta, which implements an emissions trading system for Alberta's industrial facilities. However, in the same response, West Fraser did not support a federally administered carbon tax in Canada, emphasizing “mitigation costs”.
Positioning on Energy Transition: West Fraser appears to have limited engagement around the transition of the energy mix. The company has supported a transition to a greater use of bioenergy, such as on its corporate website, accessed in October 2024, and in a blog post, accessed in February 2024. However, the company did not clearly support the need to transition to a renewables-based system or recognize the limitations and uncertainties of the use of bioenergy.
Industry Association Governance: West Fraser has disclosed a complete list of its industry association memberships in its 2023 Sustainability report, published in June 2024. However, West Fraser has not disclosed details on the groups’ climate policy positions or the company’s alignment with them. West Fraser has not published a review of its memberships. The company does not appear to be a member of any industry associations tracked by InfluenceMap in our LobbyMap 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 Q4 2024.