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.
Climate Lobbying Overview: Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry (FIPI) showcases very limited engagement on climate policy with mixed positions. While FIPI has stated high-level support for climate action, it strongly advocates for expanding fossil gas production and consumption in India.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: FIPI appears to have limited, albeit positive, positions on top-line communications relating to climate change policies. In a June 2021 tweet, the company supported a net-zero goal, however it did not specify a date for the target. Earlier in March 2021, FIPI Director General R.K Malhotra highlighted climate change and global warming as “urgent issues”. FIPI’s 2018-19 Annual Report published in 2019 also appeared to support policy initiatives to “achieve less carbon”.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: FIPI’s engagement on climate-related policies remains minimal. There is some evidence to show that FIPI supports GHG emission standards, as evidenced by the FIPI Director General’s statement in The Journal of Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry, where it supported the Government of India’s Bharat Stage Emission Standards. In the same source, the Director General also supported ethanol blending incentives in India’s National Biofuels Policy. InfluenceMap could not find evidence of FIPI’s engagement on carbon taxes or emissions trading.
Position on Energy Transition: A large segment of FIPI’s public communications focuses on the energy transition debates, and is dominated by broadly negative positions. FIPI has an active Twitter account that frequently endorses fossil gas in India. For instance, tweets from January 2021 has advocated for the inclusion of fossil gas in India’s GST in an attempt incentivize gas usage, simultaneously labelling fossil gas an “environment-friendly” fuel. Similarly, in a January 2022 tweet, FIPI claimed that it is “advocating” for fossil-gas energy system to reduce green house gas emissions. In the 2019-20 Annual Report, FIPI Director General expressed support for the “gas-based economy” envisioned by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The same positioned was later echoed in the January-March 2021 issue of FIPI’s journal, where the Director General welcomed the LNG expansion stimulus set in India’s Union Budget 2021-22.
FIPI is also vocal about expanding hydrogen production in India, however, it makes no reference to decarbonization of the hydrogen production. An April 2021 tweet, cited the Director General’s support for hydrogen blending with fossil gas. During the same month, Director General called for “supportive policies” for expanding the role for hydrogen in India, without clarifying whether it excludes unabated fossil fuel production.