This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/sep/10/bp-edf-proctor-gamble-face-pressure-over-climate-change-lobbying
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| BP, EDF and Procter & Gamble face pressure over climate change lobbying | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| A group of 25 investors with €61bn in assets has written to a number of FTSE 100 companies, including BP, EDF, Glencore, Johnson Matthey, Procter & Gamble, Rio Tinto, Statoil and Total asking them to justify their membership of prominent EU trade associations. | |
| The letter, coordinated by responsible investment charity ShareAction, sets out a number of concerns about the lobbying activities of these trade groups on EU climate policy, based on research my colleagues and I carried out earlier this year. We investigated eight influential trade associations including BusinessEurope, which has argued that EU climate targets undermine industrial competitiveness, and the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic), which has stated that strengthening the EU emissions trading system would force businesses to move overseas because of high energy costs in Europe. | The letter, coordinated by responsible investment charity ShareAction, sets out a number of concerns about the lobbying activities of these trade groups on EU climate policy, based on research my colleagues and I carried out earlier this year. We investigated eight influential trade associations including BusinessEurope, which has argued that EU climate targets undermine industrial competitiveness, and the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic), which has stated that strengthening the EU emissions trading system would force businesses to move overseas because of high energy costs in Europe. |
| Related: Big business using trade groups to lobby against EU climate policy | Related: Big business using trade groups to lobby against EU climate policy |
| BusinessEurope is feeling the pressure of being named and shamed as it relies on large companies to provide its funding either directly or through their national trade associations. It published a response describing the concerns expressed by investors as “inaccurate”, “misleading” and “biased”. | BusinessEurope is feeling the pressure of being named and shamed as it relies on large companies to provide its funding either directly or through their national trade associations. It published a response describing the concerns expressed by investors as “inaccurate”, “misleading” and “biased”. |
| The organisation has 40 national trade associations in its membership, including the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), across 34 countries and claims to be a “leading advocate for growth and competitiveness at European level, standing up for companies across the continent”. It spent more than €4m last year on lobbying, employing 29 people, 22 of whom have access to European parliament premises. | The organisation has 40 national trade associations in its membership, including the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), across 34 countries and claims to be a “leading advocate for growth and competitiveness at European level, standing up for companies across the continent”. It spent more than €4m last year on lobbying, employing 29 people, 22 of whom have access to European parliament premises. |
| In research published earlier this year (pdf), we examined responses to EU consultations in 2012 and 2013, and found that BusinessEurope opposed reforms designed to strengthen the EU’s emissions trading system, known as “backloading”. This was the substantive reform to the emissions trading system in the current trading period (2013-2020), designed to remove emissions permits from the system temporarily, thereby rescuing the carbon price when it crashed to under €3 per tonne in 2013. A low carbon price provides little incentive to invest in clean technologies. | In research published earlier this year (pdf), we examined responses to EU consultations in 2012 and 2013, and found that BusinessEurope opposed reforms designed to strengthen the EU’s emissions trading system, known as “backloading”. This was the substantive reform to the emissions trading system in the current trading period (2013-2020), designed to remove emissions permits from the system temporarily, thereby rescuing the carbon price when it crashed to under €3 per tonne in 2013. A low carbon price provides little incentive to invest in clean technologies. |
| These are not the positions of an organisation that supports strong and effective climate legislation. | These are not the positions of an organisation that supports strong and effective climate legislation. |
| BusinessEurope also argued that the EU should have just one emission reduction target for 2030 – ditching the specific targets for renewable energy and energy efficiency contained in the EU’s 2020 package. As ShareAction CEO Catherine Howarth said “these are not the positions of an organisation that supports strong and effective climate legislation”. | BusinessEurope also argued that the EU should have just one emission reduction target for 2030 – ditching the specific targets for renewable energy and energy efficiency contained in the EU’s 2020 package. As ShareAction CEO Catherine Howarth said “these are not the positions of an organisation that supports strong and effective climate legislation”. |
| This is not the first time BusinessEurope has been criticised for its stance on environmental issues. After it called for the EU Commission’s 2030 climate green paper to be “totally reshaped” to place more emphasis on cost competitiveness and security of energy supplies and less on climate protection, it was accused by WWF and the European Wind Energy Association of being “short-termist”. Last year the CBI said that BusinessEurope “took a significantly less progressive stance on climate change policies than the CBI”, and many companies were said to be furious about BusinessEurope’s opposition to reforms to the EU emissions trading system. | This is not the first time BusinessEurope has been criticised for its stance on environmental issues. After it called for the EU Commission’s 2030 climate green paper to be “totally reshaped” to place more emphasis on cost competitiveness and security of energy supplies and less on climate protection, it was accused by WWF and the European Wind Energy Association of being “short-termist”. Last year the CBI said that BusinessEurope “took a significantly less progressive stance on climate change policies than the CBI”, and many companies were said to be furious about BusinessEurope’s opposition to reforms to the EU emissions trading system. |
| This trading of positions for and against new policy is standard lobbying stuff. Until now getting behind these positions to understand who is lobbying who and for what has been hard, if not impossible to find. However, the launch of a new website InfluenceMap, by an NGO with the same name, next week aims to bring greater transparency and openness to the murky world of lobbying climate change policy (full disclosure: I am an unpaid adviser to the small team running the site). The site scores BusinessEurope as one of the most obstructive trade groups on climate policy, alongside, ACEA (automotive), the German chemical industry association (the VCI), Cefic (chemicals) and in last place MEDEF, the powerful French industrial federation. | This trading of positions for and against new policy is standard lobbying stuff. Until now getting behind these positions to understand who is lobbying who and for what has been hard, if not impossible to find. However, the launch of a new website InfluenceMap, by an NGO with the same name, next week aims to bring greater transparency and openness to the murky world of lobbying climate change policy (full disclosure: I am an unpaid adviser to the small team running the site). The site scores BusinessEurope as one of the most obstructive trade groups on climate policy, alongside, ACEA (automotive), the German chemical industry association (the VCI), Cefic (chemicals) and in last place MEDEF, the powerful French industrial federation. |
| Related: Has the EU’s carbon trading system made business greener? | Related: Has the EU’s carbon trading system made business greener? |
| BusinessEurope has signed up to several business initiatives asking policymakers to secure a global deal at the climate negotiations in Paris this year. Unfortunately, it has also been arguing that Europe should step back from bold action on climate change unless all countries and regions take action. InfluenceMap records one New York Times article where BusinessEurope argues that unless there is a global “level playing field” from a climate deal, the EU should consider revising down its 40% greenhouse has emission reduction target. This is not the bold leadership from business that Christiana Figueres, chief executive of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , has been calling for. | BusinessEurope has signed up to several business initiatives asking policymakers to secure a global deal at the climate negotiations in Paris this year. Unfortunately, it has also been arguing that Europe should step back from bold action on climate change unless all countries and regions take action. InfluenceMap records one New York Times article where BusinessEurope argues that unless there is a global “level playing field” from a climate deal, the EU should consider revising down its 40% greenhouse has emission reduction target. This is not the bold leadership from business that Christiana Figueres, chief executive of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , has been calling for. |
| The tactics BusinessEurope is using are familiar: in our original report we noted that trade bodies have repeatedly raised the spectre of carbon leakage (the risk of such companies relocating to regions with laxer emissions limits), deindustrialisation and job losses in response to policies designed to mitigate climate change, arguing that energy-intensive industries should get free handouts of emission permits from European taxpayers to keep them competitive. This is despite modelling by Cambridge Econometrics showing that “far fewer sectors are at genuine risk … of relocation of production as a result of unilateral climate policy” than originally thought, as well evidenced from independent academic research (for instance: here, here and here). | The tactics BusinessEurope is using are familiar: in our original report we noted that trade bodies have repeatedly raised the spectre of carbon leakage (the risk of such companies relocating to regions with laxer emissions limits), deindustrialisation and job losses in response to policies designed to mitigate climate change, arguing that energy-intensive industries should get free handouts of emission permits from European taxpayers to keep them competitive. This is despite modelling by Cambridge Econometrics showing that “far fewer sectors are at genuine risk … of relocation of production as a result of unilateral climate policy” than originally thought, as well evidenced from independent academic research (for instance: here, here and here). |
| BusinessEurope has an enormous indirect membership (through the national trade associations who are its members), and its corporate advisory support group contains many big-name companies and brands. A great many of these have explicitly recognised the dangers of runaway climate change. If BusinessEurope wants to retain credibility with both businesses and European policymakers, it needs to seriously rethink its approach to climate change policy to play a positive, constructive and sustainable role in the transition to a low-carbon future. | BusinessEurope has an enormous indirect membership (through the national trade associations who are its members), and its corporate advisory support group contains many big-name companies and brands. A great many of these have explicitly recognised the dangers of runaway climate change. If BusinessEurope wants to retain credibility with both businesses and European policymakers, it needs to seriously rethink its approach to climate change policy to play a positive, constructive and sustainable role in the transition to a low-carbon future. |