Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP27) in Sharm el-Sheikh, Corporate Knights and the Global 100 Council announce a joint Action Declaration on Climate Policy Engagement, an initiative that has garnered the support of more than 50 global companies committed to ensuring that their climate policy engagement, and that of their industry associations, helps address climate change, not stall it.
These companies, whose almost US$900 billion in annual revenues account for 1% of global GDP, representing every major industry from mining and finance to healthcare and tech, with the exception of oil and gas producers.
The declaration also includes signatories from all G7 countries, except Japan, as well as three of the world’s largest emerging economies: China, India and Brazil. Signatories of the Action Declaration are taking a global, multisector approach to addressing one of the primary drivers behind the “say–do” gap on emissions reductions: policy-blocking tactics employed by some companies and industry associations.
Current targets and nationally determined contributions (NDCs) have the world on a warming pathway of 2.1°C to 2.4°C, woefully insufficient to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and the renewed commitments under the Glasgow Climate Pact. To curb this trajectory, ambitious climate policy will be required.
Active lobbying by powerful industry associations, however, has decelerated or inhibited the advancement of Paris-aligned policies. The Action Declaration brings together corporate leaders who are committed to improving public–private policy engagement to move the world to the clean economy needed to address climate change.
Catherine McKenna, chair of the United Nations High-Level Expert Group on the Net-Zero Emissions Commitments of Non-State Entities (and former Canadian minister of environment and climate change and minister of infrastructure and communities), reflects on the role of the public sector in advancing climate policy: “Climate change is ultimately a global issue – it’s an everyone problem, not just a challenge to be solved by governments. If we’re serious about transitioning to a cleaner economy, we need business to get on the same page. There’s a real opportunity and need for governments to advance ambitious climate policy both domestically and internationally, but for that to happen, major trade and industry associations, which are a dominant force guiding government–business engagement, need to be constructive and solutions-oriented, not rooted in resistance, and businesses need to hold them to that.”
The Action Declaration’s 50-plus signatories include influential global players, such as Unilever, Ingka Group (IKEA), Commerzbank, Tech Mahindra and Enel. Corporate Knights primarily invited companies previously included in its Global 100 Most Sustainable Companies and Best 50 Corporate Citizens in Canada rankings to sign the Declaration. “We’re activating a sizable economic constituency that wants to see more ambitious policy and swifter climate action,” explains Toby Heaps, CEO and co-founder of Corporate Knights. “By uniting forces, we can show governments around the world that they have the support of the private sector and its major trade and industry associations, outsizing and ‘out-voicing’ laggards who have been actively undermining the Paris Agreement.”
The Action Declaration aims to close the say–do gap on countries’ emissions reductions by supporting climate action aligned with the Paris Agreement when engaging with policy-makers, working with their major industry/trade associations to advance alignment with the Paris Agreement and monitoring and disclosing climate policy alignment for their companies and their major industry/trade associations.
“Pressure on the entire corporate sector to fully support governments globally in efforts to devise and implement meaningful climate policy is growing – from investors, the media, civil society and, increasingly, from parts of the corporate sector who want and need government policy to realize their climate transition plans,” explains Dylan Tanner, executive director at InfluenceMap, the initiative’s data intelligence partner. “The initial signatories of the Action Declaration on Climate Policy Engagement represent climate policy leaders and a hugely important force in the reforming of the many powerful trade groups globally delaying climate action. It is clear others will join as this trend mainstreams.”
Meanwhile, signatories will be required to publicly disclose their policy engagement activities by the end of 2023 but will choose their own monitoring and disclosure methods.
