Scored evidence collected on an entity's engagement with land-use and circular economy policy will now be fully weighted into the final calculations for each entity's metrics. This follows a two year process where InfluenceMap has evolved its methodology to collect evidence on corporate and industry engagement with these key areas of climate-related policy.
We have strengthened the algorithm for discounting the impact older evidence on an organization's top-line metrics. Evidence from within the last two years is weighted the strongest and then gradually weighted out of the scoring calculations as it gets older. All evidence that is 5 years or older is completely removed from the scoring calculations. Users will still be able to view older evidence items that are archived the scoring matrix below, but these will not be impacting the organization's current scores.
In this section, we depict graphically the relationships the corporation has with trade associations, federations, advocacy groups and other third parties who may be acting on their behalf to influence climate change policy. Each of the columns above represents one relationship the corporation appears to have with such a third party. In these columns, the top, dark section represents the strength of the relationship the corporation has with the influencer. For example if a corporation's senior executive also held a key role in the trade association, we would deem this to be a strong relationship and it would be on the far left of the chart above, with the weaker ones to the right. Click on these grey shaded upper sections for details of these relationships. The middle section contains a link to the organization score details of the influencer concerned, so you can see the details of its climate change policy influence. Click on the middle sections for for details of the trade associations. The lower section contains the organization score of that influencer, the lower the more negatively it is influencing climate policy.
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: Bluescope Steel (Bluescope) is strategically engaged on climate policy and displays a mix of positive and negative positions on specific climate-related regulations in Australia. The company likewise demonstrates inconsistent positioning on the energy transition, supporting the decarbonization of the steel industry whilst continuing to advocate for the expansion of fossil fuels.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Bluescope displays positive top-line messaging on climate policy. The company supported Australia’s transition to net zero emissions by 2050 and the goals of the Paris Agreement in an April 2024 consultation submission, and also backed the need for climate change regulation in an April 2023 joint letter, supporting federal and state measures to drive down emissions.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: Bluescope appears to engage with a mix of negative and positive positions on climate-related policy. The company appeared to advocate a number of positions which risk weakening the climate ambition of Australia’s Safeguard Mechanism in September 2022 and February 2023 consultations submissions on the reforms, including, calling for trade-exposed baseline-adjusted facilities’ baselines to be less than the proposed 2% per year. Bluescope also appeared to advocate for exemptions to New South Wales’ Renewable Fuel Scheme in a January 2024 submission, emphasizing that the proposed scheme risks undermining Bluescope’s international competitiveness.
While Bluescope has consistently communicated top-line support for the introduction of a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) in Australia, as demonstrated in an April 2023 ASX release, the company appeared to qualify this support by advocating for several conditions that could lead to a weakening of the policy’s decarbonization signal in its November 2023 submission to Australia’s Carbon Leakage Review. Among other positions, Bluescope advocated for the continuation of existing carbon leakage protection measures under the Safeguard Mechanism alongside a CBAM. In the same submission, the company also appeared to advocate against the introduction of mandatory greenhouse gas emissions product standards in Australia.
Bluescope appears to adopt a more supportive position on greenhouse gas emissions targets. The company has consistently supported the legislation of Australia’s 2030 and 2050 emissions targets in 2023-2024, for example in an April 2024 consultation submission.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Bluescope demonstrates a mix of positive and negative positions on the energy transition. The company appears to largely support the decarbonization of industry and the transition to low emissions iron steelmaking in its top-line communications. For example, as reported in an April 2023 article by Illawarra Mercury, CEO Mark Vassella noted that government policy for renewables is a “key component of decarbonizing the steel industry”. Bluescope likewise emphasized the need for increased investment in renewable electricity to support the decarbonization of Australian industry in its February 2024 consultation submission to AEMO’s Draft 2024 Integrated System Plan.
However, while Bluescope supports the eventual transition to green hydrogen-based steel production, it appears to emphasize the technological and economic viability of this transition to promote an expanded role for fossil gas in the steelmaking process in the short to medium term, as demonstrated in its April 2024 submission to Australia’s Energy and Electricity Sector Plan. The company likewise advocated for the continued role for fossil gas in the energy mix, without placing clear conditions on the need for CCS or methane emissions abatement, in its November 2023 consultation submission to Australia’s Future Gas Strategy, noting that demand for gas as a transitional fuel is “understated” and calling for the removal of state moratoriums on gas exploration and production.
Industry Association Governance: Bluescope has not published a transparent disclosure of its alignment with its industry associations’ positions on climate, though the company has disclosed a partial list of its industry association memberships in its FY2023 Sustainability Report. Bluescope maintains membership to a number of industry associations that are actively engaged on climate policy in Australia, including the Australian Industry Group, the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Industry Greenhouse Network. All three groups appear to have engaged in advocacy promoting the role of fossil gas in the energy mix in 2022-24.
InfluenceMap collects and assesses evidence of corporate climate policy engagement on a weekly basis, depending on the availability of information from each specific data source (for more information see our methodology). While this analysis flows through to the company’s scores each week, the summary above is updated periodically. This summary was last updated in Q3 2024.