Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) has moderate levels of engagement with climate change policy and holds a mixture of positive and negative positions. ASSOCHAM shows consistent support for top-line climate action statements and the electrification of transport, but advocates for a long-term role for fossil fuels in India's energy mix.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) demonstrates positive top-line messaging on climate policy. ASSOCHAM appeared to support the achievement of the goals of COP26 in a report published in October 2022. Further, the organization stated its intention to “actively support” government action on climate change on its ‘Sustainability’ webpage, accessed in October 2023. In a report published in August 2023, ASSOCHAM supported the expansion of electric vehicle markets for the purpose of achieving net-zero emissions by 2070 in India.
Engagement with Climate-related Regulations: The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) has limited but positive transparent engagement with climate related regulations, showing support for renewable energy policies. For example, in a bulletin published in February 2023, ASSOCHAM’s President Sumant Sinha supported India’s target of 30% renewable energy in the grid by 2030.
ASSOCHAM’s secretary general Deepal Sood stated support for the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) in an August 2024 report. He suggested the CBAM would incentivize increased climate ambition globally, specifically advocating for India to use it as an opportunity to transition to cleaner technologies. The association also appeared to support India’s Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFÉ) emission standards, that aim to reduce fuel consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from light-duty vehicles, in an August 2023 report.
Positioning on Energy Transition: The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) demonstrates inconsistent positions on the energy mix, supporting both electric vehicles and fossil fuels. In comments submitted to India’s Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board in September 2022, the organization appeared to support new fossil gas infrastructure. ASSOCHAM has also consistently advocated for the long-term role of coal in India’s energy mix, such as in an October 2022 press release, and in a July 2022 bulletin. In the bulletin, the organization stated that India will “depend on coal for its future energy needs at least till 2050”, and strongly supported coal gasification without reference to the need for carbon capture and storage (CCS).
On electrifying the transport sector, ASSOCHAM supported the deployment of 100,000 electric buses across major cities in India in an August 2023 X post. Further, in an October 2022 report, ASSOCHAM called for government incentives such as subsidies to allow for the growth of electric vehicle (EV) markets in India. However, whilst ASSOCHAM supported the decarbonization of road transport in an August 2023 Electric Mobility report, it advocated for a role for hybrid vehicles over fully-electric vehicles (EV) in the transition in which it also supported extending India's Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme aimed to increasing EV and hybrid development.
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 industry association’s scores each week, the summary above is updated periodically. This summary was last updated in Q2 2025.
Additional Note: ASSOCHAM is headquartered in India, where InfluenceMap’s LobbyMap platform can currently only make a provisional assessment of corporate climate policy engagement, due to limited capability to access publicly available data on this issue. As it is possible that InfluenceMap is not yet able to fully capture evidence of ASSOCHAM's climate policy engagement activities, these scores should be considered provisional at this time.