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: The South African Iron and Steel Institute (SAISI) appears to have very limited transparent engagement on climate-related regulations, although it has supported a carbon tax on steel. SAISI has mixed positions on the energy transition, with limited engagement.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: SAISI does not appear to have any top-line communications on climate policy.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: SAISI appears to have very limited transparent engagement on climate legislation and regulations, and the organization has shown no evidence of engagement in 2021-2022. In a March 2020 Engineering News Article, SAISI’s Secretary General Charles Dednam appeared to support a carbon tax on domestic and imported steel products in South Africa.
Positioning on Energy Transition: SAISI has expressed conflicting positions on the energy transition, and overall has extremely limited engagement on the issue. On its corporate website, accessed in April 2022, SAISI appears to support renewable energy generation. However, on the same webpage, it appears SAISI does not support the decarbonization of the steel industry, stating that improving the efficiency of steel-using products is more important than reducing the emissions associated with initial steel production.