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: Japan Franchise Association (JFA) appears to have limited direct engagement with climate and energy policy in Japan. It has limited top-line messaging on climate policy and some mixed positions on transitioning the energy mix.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: JFA has limited top-line messaging on climate policy, and appears to not have specified a position on the UN Climate Treaty. Regarding Japan’s 2050 net zero target, JFA stated that “we should of course follow the national energy policy” and that it would like to contribute to reductions “as much as possible” in a Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) hearing in February 2021, but did not specify a position on near-term action to achieve the goal. Again, in a METI hearing in April 2021, JFA stated that it will review its targets “toward carbon neutrality in 2050” in consideration of the Basic Energy Plan, but did not specify a position on near-term action.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: JFA has very limited engagement with climate-related regulations. In a press release in July 2022, it supported energy efficiency measures among its member companies in collaboration with the Ministry of the Environment, but was unclear whether it supported energy efficiency legislation.
Positioning on Energy Transition: JFA has appeared to have limited and mixed positions on the energy transition. In a METI hearing in January 2022, it stated that it would be “difficult to set uniform targets” as part of efforts to decarbonize the transportation due to many member companies outsourcing their transportation operations, and emphasized voluntary cooperation from contractors. In a METI hearing in February 2021, JFA stated that it “would like to promote the installation of solar power” in its stores, however it was unclear whether it supported an increase in renewables in line with the IPCC. In an April 2021 METI hearing, JFA appeared to support the expansion of “non-fossil energy,” including solar power, while emphasizing the need for support measures due to costs.
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 2022.