This briefing contains an overview of the corporate lobbying detected by InfluenceMap related to oil, fossil gas, and methane for the month of July 2022.
InfluenceMap has identified a concerted lobbying effort led by the gas industry to weaken elements of the EU Energy Efficiency Directive revision, and enable the inclusion of fossil gas technologies. Gas sector players, including industry association Eurogas, and companies PGE Group and Snam, have targeted the Energy Savings Obligation to remove the exclusion of energy savings from fossil fuel technologies. Alongside this, industry associations from the steel and chemicals sectors have attempted to weaken the revision proposal’s criteria for high-efficiency cogeneration, likely to allow fossil fuel powered cogeneration into the policy scope.
Through the course of June and July, the United Kingdom’s Parliament Environmental Audit Committee has been receiving written and oral evidence on ‘Accelerating the Energy Transition and securing energy supplies’, to assess the UK’s energy security following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Amongst the entities that contributed evidence to the inquiry, there appears to be a split in position between the oil and gas and utilities sector, with oil and gas companies BP and Shell along with sector association Offshore Energies UK appearing to advocate in favour of continued investments in North Sea oil and gas. While utility companies, E,ON, EDF and National Grid appeared to emphasise the need to accelerate towards alternative energy sources and improve demand-side policies.
The fossil fuel sector in the U.S. and Canada continues to advocate strongly for expanded domestic production of oil and gas. The American Petroleum Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have reiterated their calls for unrestricted fossil fuel development on federal lands and waters, including opening the Gulf of Mexico for more lease sales. Similarly, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) has been advocating for increases in LNG exports and gas infrastructure to address the global energy supply. It argued that fossil fuel development is a pathway to Indigenous self-determination and also along with Cenovus, has opposed Canada’s proposed federal emissions cap on the oil and gas industry.
Utilities engaged with varying positions on the New York State Draft Scoping Plan, which builds upon the state's 2019 climate law to propose several decarbonization pathways. While subsidiaries of Avangrid, Con Edison, and National Grid advocated for a weaker alternative to full electrification that included fossil gas blends, Con Edison also joined the Natural Resources Defence Council in calling for the New York Climate Action Council to pursue ambitious energy efficiency and electrification policies in the final plan.