European companies backing robust, science-based regulation on CO2 emissions under the EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy are also performing better on stock markets when compared with their peers that are opposing the same policy, according to analysis of InfluenceMap's policy position scores and financial metrics from external databases.
Intensive lobbying throughout 2020 from real economy sectors has extracted significant concessions from the European Commission on its EU Sustainable Finance taxonomy.
New research from InfluenceMap shows the oil and gas sector to have dominated climate-related policy battles throughout COVID-19 crisis.
This analysis highlights a trend whereby companies and industry groups are engaging with investors and the media by focusing attention on top-line positive statements on climate while distracting stakeholders from the important details that conversely show patterns of opposition to science-based climate policy.
ExxonMobil attempts to influence the European Green Deal
How the oil majors have spent $1Bn since Paris on narrative capture and lobbying on climate
The last few years has seen a significant reduction in the tax North Sea operators pay to extract oil and gas, to the point where the UK Treasury is now paying the sector £24m per year to operate. The industry has achieved this by a variety of influencing tactics aimed at multiple levels of the tax policy making process.
The global mining giant has just published a review of climate/energy misalignments between it and its key lobby groups - InfluenceMap fact checks this for accuracy and completeness.
The energy majors' strategy (Shell, BP and Total) leading up to Paris 2015 is to call for a price on carbon. Behind the scenes, however, all are systematically obstructing the very laws that would enable a meaningful price.
Research suggests ExxonMobil spent $27m and Shell $22m to obstruct climate legislation in 2015, with the American Petroleum Institute and two smaller trade associations spending a further $74m on behalf of the entire industry.
The clear trend is greater disclosure by the oil/gas industry of regulatory risk posed by climate policy with emphasis of a likely shift following the Paris Agreement. Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Valero Energy all imply that significant regulatory risk at the national levels is on the horizon after COP21.
Issues surrounding climate disclosure investigations by the New York Attorney General into ExxonMobil may be pervasive in the industry.
