On November 8th, at COP27 in Egypt, 57 global companies that are leaders in sustainability endorsed an Action Declaration to Paris-align their climate policy engagement activities.
The Action Declaration outlines how industry leaders in the movement to decarbonize the economy will support ambitious action to close the say–do gap on countries’ emission reductions by:
- Supporting climate action aligned with the Paris Agreement when engaging with policymakers
- Working with their major industry/trade associations to advance alignment with the Paris Agreement
- Monitoring and disclosing climate policy alignment for their companies and their major industry/trade associations
Big business puts its industry associations on notice: No more blocking climate policy
More than 50 companies representing close to US$900 billion in annual revenue join Corporate Knights Action Declaration on climate policy engagement
Watch the Action Declaration launch event in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt
WHY ARE WE DOING THIS NOW?
Renewed commitments in the Glasgow Climate Pact to limit global warming to 1.5°C require cutting emissions 45% by 2030 (compared to 2010 levels) and to net-zero by 2050, a long way off the current trajectory of targets and nationally determined contributions that have the world on a warming pathway of 2.1°C to 2.4°C. Bending that trajectory will take monumental effort from governments and corporations, supported by good public policy. But for governments to enact the policy needed to make real progress on climate change, they need the visible support of the private sector.
Many climate action collaborations now require companies to commit to new climate-policy engagement standards, like those set out in the UN Principles for Responsible Investment’s Investor Expectations on Corporate Climate Lobbying or the Global Standard on Responsible Climate Lobbying. Race to Zero recently announced changes to its baseline and leadership requirements whereby companies must align their “external policy and engagement, including membership in associations, to the goal of halving emissions by 2030 and reaching global (net) zero by 2050” within 12 months of joining.
This Action Declaration is an early voluntary commitment by companies to take steps toward aligning to emerging climate-policy engagement standards.
CLIMATE POLICY IN PLAY
To help participating companies meet the reporting requirement of “monitoring and disclosing climate policy alignment for their companies and their major industry/trade associations”, and to inform other stakeholders, we share analysis by InfluenceMap that will help identify the key climate policies in play globally and regionally, which is updated frequently to stay current.
InfluenceMap is an independent think tank that provides data-driven analysis on how business and finance are impacting the climate crisis. InfluenceMap’s “LobbyMap” program analyzes the climate policy engagement of nearly 400 companies and 200 industry associations globally. The following online platforms track live climate policy debates in Europe, South Korea, and Australia, and the United States – with a new platform on Japan coming soon – and provide data on current trends in corporate lobbying on these policies. The trackers can be used by signatories of the Action Declaration to inform timely, high-impact opportunities for climate policy engagement.
Action Declaration Signatories
