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: IOGP appears to have a mixed to negative position on climate change policy. Although IOGP has clearly supported emissions reductions, including the EU’s target of climate neutrality by 2050, it does not appear to fully support a transition of the energy mix that is aligned with this goal by supporting an increase in oil and gas exploration.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: IOGP’s top-line messaging on climate policy is broadly positive. IOGP appears to have repeatedly supported the EU’s target of climate neutrality by 2050, for example, in consultation responses from April 2021 and October 2020. Furthermore, as of July 2021, IOGP maintains support for the Paris Agreement on its website. IOGP’s support for the need for government policy appears more mixed; on IOGP’s website as of July 2021, IOGP states support for “market-based economy-wide mechanisms” such as carbon pricing with the need for other forms of regulation left unclear. Likewise, in April 2020, IOGP submitted an EU consultation response appearing to support an international price on carbon but emphasizing that carbon pricing should be the "primary policy tool" to respond to climate change.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: IOGP’s engagement with specific climate-related regulations appears mixed. In a March 2022 position paper, the organization did not support fixed leak detection and repair monitoring requirements to strengthen the EU’s Methane Rules for the energy sector. In an EU consultation response from October 2020, IOGP appears to have stated support for a proposed carbon border adjustment mechanism in Europe, and in a press release from November 2020, IOGP appeared to support the EU’s Methane Strategy. However, in IOGP’s response from October 2018 to the consultation on the EU Strategy for long-term EU GHG emissions reductions, IOGP appeared to not support either a renewable energy target or an energy efficiency target, claiming “such targets pre-determine what the answer to the climate change challenge” and are “an unnecessary burden for consumers to bear.”
Positioning on Energy Transition: IOGP does not appear to fully support the transition of the energy mix and continues to advocate for the continued role of fossil gas in the energy mix. On IOGP’s website as of April 2022, IOGP maintains support for a long term role for fossil gas in the energy mix, claiming “gas will be a key player in the long term. Without it, the shift to a low-carbon energy system could seriously compromise quality of life by limiting access to affordable heat, light and mobility”. In December 2022, documents attained through an FOI response show that IOGP directly promoted the continued role of fossil gas in a meeting with the EU Commission, it advocated for 'favourable regulatory frameworks' to incentivize gas supply, adding that the abundance of gas reaffirms its role in the energy transition and will underpin the development of the 'hydrogen economy in Europe'. Previously, in a February 2022 press release, the association supported a weakening of the EU Commission's proposal for the sustainable finance taxonomy by the inclusion of fossil gas, and advocated for a further weakening of the technical criteria to allow for more fossil gas to be included. Additionally, IOGP has opposed proposals to ban or end public support for building heating systems that use fossil gas in an EU consultation response from January 2021. Furthermore, in another consultation response from April 2021, IOGP [792407 appeared to support including support for fossil gas in the EU's State Aid framework.
IOGP appears to continue to support the exploration and development of unexploited oil and gas resources. In response to the IEA’s Net Zero Pathway, which stated there should be no new exploration or development of new oil and gas fields beyond 2021 if the world is to meet net zero by 2050, CEO Iman Khan appeared to dispute the report in a press release from May 2021, stating “without further investments in new oil and gas fields, the world would require massive deployment of other energy sources and efficiencies as well as huge investments in research and in new technologies, ramped up at a pace we haven’t seen yet”.